American variety show world begins with subduing Jason

Passing by rows of tombstones, some old and some new, feeling the cool mist slowly rising from the deep night, a cold smile flashed across the boy's lips.

Hmph! You're about to lose your temper, aren't you?

As they continued forward, the fog grew thicker, carrying the faint, musty smell unique to grave soil. It swirled and condensed into tiny droplets, which melted into the evening breeze and settled on everything around them.

Sticking to the shrubs, the bark silently cracks and peels off.

The stains on the ground, where the moss silently rots into ash and mud.

The boy seemed oblivious to all of this, strolling leisurely through the fog. His relaxed demeanor made it seem as if he were not engaged in grave-digging in a cemetery on a cold winter night, but rather enjoying a spring outing with his classmates and friends in the warm spring month of March.

However, the two large canvas bags he was carrying, one long and one short, were a bit of an eyesore, turning him from the leading man on a picnic into a sycophantic tool carrying bags for a goddess.

Only the faint white light emanating from his body, which kept out the eerie winds and fog and exuded the pure and holy aura of the Xuanmen sect, managed to slightly steer the scene toward a sorcerer exorcising evil spirits.

There was no need to look back; they knew that Christine and the other person had already disappeared.

Zhu Mingyao estimated the time, a smile appeared on his lips, he tucked the two canvas bags under his left arm, freeing his right hand, and with his palm raised, he chopped down in mid-air!

The light and shadow before my eyes suddenly flickered and then shattered, and the brick path that seemed to have no end after walking for so long vanished instantly.

The boy turned past a clump of green holly, stared at the brand-new grave not far in front of him, and said calmly, "I apologize for disturbing you."

He said "please forgive me" but there was no apology in his tone. He was even more impolite in his actions. He quickly stepped forward, shook out a bunch of things from his canvas bag, and quickly set them up.

First, they drove eight peach wood nails into the ground according to the Bagua (Eight Trigrams) directions, enclosing the grave in the center. Then they took out a large plastic bag of grayish-white powder and sprinkled it in a rustling motion. Finally, they picked up a large pendant-like object and hung it on the cross-shaped stone tombstone.

Having done all this, Zhu Mingyao stepped back a few paces, leaned against a leafless beech tree, and quietly waited for his 'master' to return.

……

Christine clung tightly to her fiancé's arm, warily watching the swirling mist around them, wondering when they had separated from the young exorcist.

Was it a few minutes ago? Or longer?

Clay Dalton was in even worse condition, pale and weak in the legs. If it weren't for his lover by his side, he probably wouldn't have made it.

The talismans in their arms and the silk threads on their wrists emitted waves of heat, reminding the two that they were probably in an inexplicable crisis.

Suddenly he felt a tightness in his arm, a slight pain from his fiancée's grip. Looking down, he saw Christine's eyes bulging out of their sockets, staring in terror at a blurry figure in the mist.

"It's her! The devil! She's here!" Christine screamed hysterically!

Remembering the boy's words, Clay tried his best to remain calm and reassured him, "There's nothing to be afraid of. It's just a humanoid mist, like those magic tricks we've seen in the circus..."

Before he could finish speaking, the cloud of mist suddenly accelerated and rushed over. Now even Clay could see it clearly. The mist vaguely resembled a demon with a huge mouth, fangs, sharp horns, and messy hair.

Normally, such a ferocious appearance would be enough to terrify ordinary people, but perhaps because the material that makes up the body is loose mist, the image of the demon is not very clear, as if it has been pixelated, and the terrifying atmosphere is greatly reduced.

At least Clay felt it was still within his tolerance level, but his fiancée, who was usually bolder than him, was in a very bad situation.

Christine's eyes widened, bloodshot, and she bit her lip until it bled. Her body seemed boneless as she slid toward the ground, with only her hands still holding onto her arms with a little strength.

It was as if some unseen force was trying to drag her underground.

Faced with this bizarre scene, and looking at his beloved fiancée, Clay mustered his courage and stood in front of the oncoming demonic cloud of mist.

The mist passed through Clay's body without any hindrance and was about to touch Christine!

Just then, a beam of clear light suddenly rose from Christine's body, transforming into a hazy, enormous sword that slashed down from the sky!

I've been busy these past couple of days and haven't had time to write. I'll try to update earlier during the day; my poor stockpile of drafts...

Chapter 42 Prosthetic Eye

The sword light was vast, reaching a length of three meters, and with this strike, it cut down both living people and the demon formed from the mist!

However, the clear light of the sword swept past the person as easily as cutting water with a knife, leaving no trace of injury.

Only the mist demon was cut in half. It roared silently to the sky, and the mist that made up its body trembled violently and collapsed. In a moment, it disappeared without a trace, leaving only a damp mass with a strange, putrid smell that made people want to vomit.

Still shaken, Christine and her companion huddled together on the ground. Neither of them noticed a glimmer of light bursting forth from the dissipating mist and flying deeper into the cemetery.

……

Beside the brand-new grave, the boy who had been dozing against a tree suddenly opened his eyes, pointed his sword, and uttered a low shout:

"rise!"

At his shout, eight beams of yellow light, each as thick as a thumb, rose from the ground and crisscrossed in mid-air, forming a net that trapped the suddenly appearing glimmer of light within.

Zhu Mingyao then puffed out his cheeks and blew gently. The incense ash and coarse salt he had just scattered on the ground were lifted up by a gentle breeze and wrapped around the faint light, outlining a figure in the void.

The almost transparent figure still retained some of its demonic and ferocious appearance, but beneath its distorted face, one could already discern a trace of its original appearance as an elderly woman.

"Has it already completely merged with the power of magic? It's truly harming both itself and others!"

Zhu Mingyao shook his head with pity and sighed inwardly.

He clasped his hands together slightly, raised them to his chest, his ten fingers forming a mudra like a lotus flower just beginning to bloom, and chanted mantras.

"In the vast Fengdu, the Vajra Mountains rise one after another."

The boundless light of Lingbao illuminates the blazing pool of afflictions.

The sinful souls of the Nine Netherworlds, their bodies carried by the fragrant cloud banner.

"May your wisdom and tranquility be like a blue lotus, and may you be reborn in a state of eternal peace."

As the boy chanted incantations, wisps of pure energy descended from the sky, transforming into drops of sweet rain. A sense of peace and compassion permeated the area around the grave, sweeping away the original eerie atmosphere.

The translucent figure in mid-air was constantly washed by the pure dew, and pieces of spiritual energy disintegrated and dissolved, revealing another appearance.

It was an elderly woman dressed in black mourning clothes and a headscarf, missing her right eye, leaving only a dark hole that emitted an ominous red glow.

As the pure dew continued to fall, the evil power on the figure was gradually stripped away, and the distorted face gradually became peaceful. Finally, as if reaching a certain limit, with a soft "whoosh," it dispersed into countless fireflies and disappeared into the world.

Slaying the vengeful spirit of witchcraft rewards you with 14 Karma Points.

Lifting the curse and saving the innocent will reward you with 10 Karma Points.

A system notification immediately sounded.

Zhu Mingyao bowed slightly to Liu Ying and said, "To be dissolved into heaven and earth is better than to fall into becoming a harmful evil spirit. Farewell, Mrs. Gainus."

The boy straightened up, glanced at the still relatively soft soil in front of the tombstone, and sighed inwardly with a bitter expression.

"I knew that even if I brought in two laborers, they might not be of any use, and in the end I would still have to do it all by myself."

Zhu Mingyao pulled a shovel from his long cloth bag and started digging.

Fortunately, as the thick fog that shrouded the cemetery dissipated, Christine and her companion, who had heard the noise when they were halfway through digging, mustered their courage and crept over, preventing him from finishing the entire job himself.

The three of them worked together, and their speed was indeed much faster. Before long, a cheap coffin made of miscellaneous wood was revealed in the pit.

He took out the prepared gloves and masks and put them on. He then put a typhoid fever pill under each person's tongue. Zhu Mingyao flexed his wrists, picked up a crowbar, inserted it into the gap, and pried it open forcefully.

With a creak, the coffin lid opened, revealing the peaceful remains inside.

Watching his fluid movements, Christine and her companion's eyelids twitched, and they had a feeling that in addition to his exorcism business, Mr. Zhu was also doing some kind of illegal work.

If the boy knew what the two were thinking, he would definitely cry out that he was wronged, saying that he had only read the complete Ghost Blows Out the Light and Tomb Raider Chronicles and was just imitating what they were doing.

Although it has been almost a week since the burial, fortunately it is early February and the weather is still quite cold, so the body is not too badly decomposed. However, the way it looks is still a bit of a challenge to normal people's nerves.

Zhu Mingyao suppressed his nausea, activated his Qi Observation Technique, and carefully examined the corpse, which looked exactly like the cursed evil spirit from before. Finally, his gaze settled on the gray prosthetic eye.

Looking at the pale yellow bodily fluid that was clearly seeping out around the eyes, the boy turned to look at Christine and the other girl, wondering in his mind—if he asked them to dig it out, would they get angry?

After thinking for a long time, Zhu Mingyao, still too embarrassed to speak, climbed out of the grave, broke off two sturdy shrub branches, made a long, simple pair of chopsticks, and gouged out the prosthetic eye.

"Damn it, this is a huge loss! They only gave me a tiny reward point, how is that supposed to make up for my emotional trauma? How am I supposed to eat with chopsticks again? Every time I use chopsticks, I'll remember... ugh!"

Christine watched as the boy used a twig to hold his prosthetic eye in place, rinsing it repeatedly with the bottled water he had brought. Unable to contain her curiosity any longer, she asked expectantly:

"Mr. Zhu, has the curse on me been lifted? And was the thing Christine and I saw just now a demon?"

Zhu Mingyao nodded, shook the prosthetic eye he was wearing, and said:

"Yes, it's basically resolved. Once I take this back and destroy it, this matter will be completely over. Go to a traditional Chinese medicine clinic and get some calming medicine like Poria cocos powder and jujube seed. Rest for a few days and you'll be fine. As for what happened earlier, we'll talk about it when we get back."

Seeing the two embrace each other, overjoyed and about to passionately kiss, the boy, oblivious to romance, interrupted:

"Don't rush to start the celebration, hurry up and bury it back!"

The LAPD has recently increased its nighttime patrols, so be careful not to get caught red-handed.

After placing a talisman on the forehead of the deceased as a precaution, the three of them hurriedly buried the coffin back into the pit and restored the grave to its original state. Zhu Mingyao then carefully cast a spell to summon a gentle breeze, which dispersed the footprints, dirt, and residual ash and salt on the ground before turning and leaving.

Only after the car had driven quite a distance, and the cemetery had disappeared from the rear window, did Zhu Mingyao pause for a moment before explaining what had happened that evening…

"There's no such thing as a demon or evil spirit that can drag people into hell?" Christine exclaimed in surprise.

The boy nodded and said, "To be precise, there is still an evil spirit, but that is Lady Gainus herself."

"There is a lot of coincidence in how this matter has developed. Mrs. Gainos is probably just an ordinary old woman who knows a little about witchcraft rituals. She does not have the ability to kill people with magic. Her intention in cursing you in the parking lot was just to scare you and vent her anger. She probably never thought it would succeed."

"But she probably didn't expect that the old prosthetic eye she got from who-knows-where was actually a real cursed artifact, which was activated by a twist of fate."

"Her flawed curse ritual was successfully activated and put into operation because this artifact replaced some missing elements."

"This is bad. Lady Gainus is just an ordinary person. She has no ability to provide the magic power needed to cast the spell," the boy sighed.

"Without offering sacrifices or providing magical power, the curse's default energy source is reduced to only one."

—Her own life!

Another day without time to write.

Chapter 43 The whole story

"The curse, which could not find any other source of energy, directly drew a large amount of life force from Lady Gainus, the caster."

That's why she passed away just a few days later.

"With her death, things entered the second phase. Before she died, she was already filled with resentment because her house had been taken away. After being cursed and having her life force drained away in a daze, her soul was filled with endless malice—you know, that kind of death must have been extremely painful!"

"If that's all, it's not so bad. Without external interference, as an old woman who is nearing the end of her life, at most she will leave behind a lingering regret and become the lowest level of earthbound spirit. The more likely scenario is that she will die a natural death and leave nothing behind."

"But she also had a prosthetic eye filled with evil power, which provided enough 'nourishment' for her soul, causing it to almost transform into a witchcraft vengeful spirit in a short period of time!"

As he spoke, Zhu Mingyao's face showed an extremely pained expression.

“Originally, if the caster died, the curse would be greatly weakened even if it did not dissipate, but the power source would be lost. However, at this time, the evil spirit that Lady Gainos had transformed into appeared. In the concept of mysticism, the soul is basically equivalent to the person. Therefore, this vengeful spirit took the place of the caster in the curse ritual and became the new energy source of this curse.”