Chapter 379: Chapter 343: Curse

Backyard of the ancient mansion.

Wu Liang walked into the dimly lit living room. On the old-fashioned sofa, two identical old men sat together, one with a short and withered right arm, the other with a short and withered left arm.

They both looked as if they were halfway into the grave, on the brink of death.

“How is it going?”

As soon as Wu Liang entered, one of the old men asked in a hoarse voice.

“A bit troublesome. She seems to already know a lot of things, is very resistant to us, and shows no curiosity about anything here. Trying to persuade her to stay might be difficult.”

“We can’t wait much longer without retrieving your sister’s body; to let the Divine Blood return, so that we can transcend and ascend to the Yunmeng Divine Kingdom. Otherwise, if we die, we will be forever trapped in a nightmare. You saw what happened when your second brother died.”

Wu Liang lowered his head and moved his less nimble leg, “I know, I plan to talk to her again tomorrow. If that doesn’t work… I’ll find a way to retrieve the Mountain Ghost Coin and prepare to nurture the next generation.”

The two old men waved Wu Liang out.

Wu Liang leaned on a cane and walked out step by step. His right hand suddenly twitched for no reason, his cane slipped, and he fell to the ground.

Struggling, Wu Liang sat up and pulled up his right sleeve, discovering that the black spots on his right arm had expanded significantly.

The areas with black spots were withered and wrinkled, lacking the vitality of living flesh.

He was born with a curse of unknown origin, his body incomplete, always having the same dream from childhood to now.

Dreaming of an endless forest, pitch black, chased by many ferocious evil ghosts, he couldn’t let them catch him. He could only run desperately towards the only spot of light ahead.

He would have this dream nearly every month, and whenever he was caught by the ghosts in the dream, he would wake up with new black spots on his body.

Only by running until he wakes up can he prevent these black spots from appearing.

As a child, he had fewer black spots and could leave the mountain to see the outside world. But outside, the black spots on his body spread rapidly, and he would inexplicably show symptoms of schizophrenia.

Only by returning here, staying in this ancient house, could he suppress these black spots.

The situation was the same for his grand-uncles. All direct male descendants of the Wushi family had this condition, unlike the villagers surnamed Wu at the mountain’s foot, who only occasionally gave birth to deformed children, most had no black spots, and didn’t experience nightmares.

Having seen the outside world’s prosperity, how could Wu Liang resign himself to being trapped here for life?

His grand-uncles told him that the only solution was to let the Divine Blood return.

What is Divine Blood?

The Witch’s blood is Divine Blood!

Wu Liang supported himself against the wall to stand up with difficulty when suddenly, he heard an alarm coming from the mountain’s foot.

“It’s not yet flooding season, nor is there heavy rain. Why is the alarm ringing now?”

Wu Liang had a bad feeling. He picked up his cane and called for ’Uncle Cai’ to go check the situation.

…

In a room somewhere in the mansion, Sang Que awoke abruptly, frantically checking her body. Fortunately, it was intact – just a dream.

Her heart was pounding, not from nervousness or fear, but from resentfulness.

Being devoured by those people, the resentment born in her dying moments made Sang Que feel that her power had strengthened significantly.

Sang Que focused her attention on the Mountain Ghost Coin. Over time, as long as she continuously recalled the scene of being devoured and absorbed that resentment, she increasingly felt the existence of the Mountain Ghost Coin.

Sang Que was too focused to notice a black mass silently creeping across the ground until it got close, startling her so much that she almost threw the phoenix hairpin hidden up her sleeve.

“Sister!”

A head popped out from the black hair on the ground, revealing Xia Chan’s smiling face.

Sang Que lowered the phoenix hairpin. She had brought only two items with her this time, the phoenix hairpin and the human bone dice. These things were small and easy to conceal.

Seeing Xia Chan, Sang Que knew that everything outside was going well.

Sang Que got off the bed, first checking the windows to ensure no one was around, then pulled Xia Chan up, watching her hair gradually form into a body, her previous tracksuit and other things entwined within her hair.

Since entering the Ghost Level, Xia Chan’s entire body had completely become hair. She could be one Xia Chan or a puddle of Xia Chan.

Since Xia Chan could still flexibly use her hair inside the mansion, it indicated that the ancient house had formidable suppressive power over her, as a descendant of the Witch, but was insufficient against other existences.

“Sister, let’s leave here. This place makes Little Chan uncomfortable.”

Xia Chan kept rubbing her foot, wearing embroidered shoes, on the ground. The embroidered shoes, after Xia Chan had used them, kept shrinking. Xia Chan’s foot was made of hair and wouldn’t hurt, but the shoes had compressed Xia Chan’s foot to half its original size, making it difficult to walk.

Sang Que attempted to help Xia Chan take off her shoes. It took a while to remove one.

Fortunately, being half-human, half-ghost now, she still had the power of the Golden Child and the village resentment, allowing her to resist the mansion’s suppression on the Witch, using some dismemberment power.

Once both shoes were off, Sang Que strung the embroidered shoes around her waist, hiding them with her clothes.

Before she could say anything, she heard footsteps.

“Quick, hide!”

Sang Que pushed Xia Chan under the bed, then quickly moved to the door. Uncle Cai, draped in a black robe, was outside, making a gesture of invitation at her.

Sang Que didn’t move, and Uncle Cai maintained the gesture.

With no other choice, Sang Que followed Uncle Cai, descending the stairs to the basement.

The surroundings were still only lit by candles, dark and cold, with a musty smell in the air.

Passing through the corridor, they came to a hall. Coffins filled the place as far as the eye could see, and Wu Liang, leaning on a cane, stood by a row of coffins at the edge. The newest coffin there had no lid.

Inside the coffin lay a person covered in large black spots, deformed… a living person!

Though deformed, the rise and fall of the chest was evident.

Wu Liang said to Sang Que, “I planned to bring you over tomorrow at dawn, but something has come up outside, so I have to talk to you now. The one lying here is your second uncle.”

“I’ll assume you know everything already, so let’s speak openly. All the ghosts and monsters in this world are born from darkness. The purpose of the Witch was to resist the darkness. Our mission is to safeguard the human world.”

“It’s difficult to verify the events of ancient times now. Our family’s lineage passing down through generations to this day wasn’t easy. The family’s men have always borne the curse of darkness. When they die, they become like this, appearing to have a breath, yet actually trapped in a nightmare, unable to escape, ’eternally living’ in extreme suffering!”

“All this is to prevent the family’s Witch from being eroded by the darkness. You thought using the Mountain Ghost Coin had no side effects? We’re bearing these side effects! If you can’t banish all the ghosts born from darkness, the dark curse on us will eventually pass to more people.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep