The Curse

The force of Sui San's touch sent Ye Lin crashing into the ground, a cloud of dust rising to shroud everything in silence. The atmosphere stilled completely, as if even the heavens had stopped breathing. The seven angels slowly stepped forward and stood at the edge of the crater, gazing down at Ye Lin's motionless body.

The scent of blood lingered heavily in the air. Splattered gore still clung to the stones. As the world held its breath, the sound of footsteps echoed faintly beside Sui Yi, the First Princess of the Golden Crow Dynasty.

A black-robed man stepped from the shadows. His right arm was missing, blood dripping freely down his side, but not a trace of pain showed on his face.

He knelt before Sui Yi and spoke.

"My apologies for the delay, Princess. We have eliminated everyone from the clan. All of their souls have been destroyed as well. No one remains. However… the souls of the Ye Clan were taken by the black flame boy."

Sui Yi nodded slightly without turning to look. Then—

Whoosh!

Her foot struck the man's face without the slightest hesitation.

"Aaargh!!"

His body flew back several hundred meters before crashing violently into the earth.

Boom!!

The moment he hit the ground, black infernal flames exploded from within him, consuming everything nearby. Trees ignited. Stones melted. Even the soil caught fire as if it were dry kindling.

Then, beneath Sui Yi's feet, the ground suddenly cracked open. Ye Lin burst upward from beneath the earth, crimson eyes blazing. His black flame sword was still in hand. With a deafening roar, he charged straight toward Sui Yi with all the strength he had left.

The black sword slashed through the air in a deadly arc. Sui Yi tilted her body effortlessly, dodging the strike with the grace of a dancer. Then, without pause, she countered with her own blade.

Squelch.

Ye Lin's right arm was severed cleanly at the shoulder. The sword slipped from his hand, blood spraying through the air. Sui Yi showed no mercy. She spun and drove a powerful kick into his chest.

"Ugh!"

Boom!!

His body flew like an arrow, soaring past mangled corpses and pools of blood, crashing violently into Hua Jinru's headless corpse that lay upon the ground.

He lifted his head and looked at his master's headless body, slowly reaching out to grasp her arm. But before his fingers could touch Hua Jinru, a figure dropped from the sky.

Thud!!

Sui Qi, the Seventh Princess, leapt down and landed hard on Ye Lin's body. The bones in both his legs snapped again for the second time that day.

"Aaaargh!!"

His scream rang out, his body trembling violently from the pain.

But Sui Qi didn't stop. She seized his left wrist and, without hesitation, twisted it with brutal force.

Crack!!

His left arm broke, bone piercing through flesh. Blood gushed from the torn wound.

"So stubborn, aren't you… little brat."

Her voice was soft, but cold. It carried the cruel satisfaction of a predator tightening its jaws around its prey.

Just as Ye Lin's soul seemed on the verge of slipping free, a voice rang out clearly within his mind.

"Boy… do you want me to help?"

It was Duan Lingchen's voice, calm and unwavering inside his consciousness.

Ye Lin, though on the brink of losing consciousness, forced the words out through bloodied lips.

"I… I can still… fight…"

Duan Lingchen chuckled quietly in response. "Stubborn as ever, this kid."

Then, a portion of his power surged into Ye Lin's body.

Some of the broken bones began to reconnect. Deep wounds slowly closed, inch by inch. Ye Lin's body twitched as his strength began to recover, pulsing faintly with renewed force.

Sui Qi watched as Ye Lin's body started to heal and black flames began to rise again from within him. She licked her lips lightly.

"Resilient little thing, aren't you."

The moment she finished speaking, she threw another punch aimed straight at him.

Boom!!

But instead of landing on Ye Lin's body, her fist crashed into a solid wall of earth. At that instant, a sound echoed from below the ground.

Boom!!

A spear of earth burst from the soil, shooting straight at her. Sui Qi reacted instantly and struck back with a punch. The earthen spear collided with her fist, and the two forces clashed with explosive power, sending shockwaves in all directions.

Sui Qi's eyes widened slightly. Her mind had reacted, but her body refused to follow her command.

Thwack!! Thwack!! Thwack!! Thwack!! Thwack!! Thwack!! Thwack!! Thwack!!

Countless earthen spears erupted from beneath her feet. They pierced through her shoulders, chest, back, legs, from every direction. There was nowhere to escape.

The body of the Seventh Princess was skewered like a rag doll pinned in midair. Blood seeped from her mouth, from her eyes, and from her broken flesh.

Sui Yi had just arrived at the place where Sui Qi and Ye Lin had clashed. Her shadow stretched across Ye Lin's motionless body and Sui Qi's corpse, which remained suspended in the air by hundreds of earthen spears. Not long after, her remaining five sisters slowly approached one by one until they were all assembled.

The aura radiating from the six princesses shook the heavens. Their presence, beyond that of any emperor, turned the surrounding air into a suffocating tomb with no way out.

Sui Yi narrowed her eyes and spoke in a calm voice.

"What are you doing, Wu Wen."

Her tone was quiet, but it carried far enough to reach every corner of the field.

Wu Wen, a middle-aged man with short black hair, slowly rose from beneath the earth. His gaze was unwavering, without the slightest hesitation.

In his hands… was the head of Hua Jinru.

He walked straight to her headless body lying peacefully on the ground. Sitting down firmly, he carefully placed her head back onto her neck with both hands.

Ye Lin, who was just beginning to move, immediately stopped when Duan Lingchen told him not to.

At the same time, Wu Wen closed his eyes. All ten of his fingers released a soft earth-element energy, forming a special kind of clay that could restore and bind living tissue like real muscle.

He touched the clay to Hua Jinru's neck, gently shaping it to fit the line of her bones. Then, with the precision of an ancient craftsman, he fused the head and body together seamlessly.

Suddenly, a silver sword wave tore through the air from the side.

Whoosh!!

The attack aimed directly at Wu Wen, intending to take his life instantly. But he didn't even glance at it. He simply raised one hand and struck the ground.

Crash!!

A massive wall of earth surged upward from the ground, fully intercepting the strike.

The sound of the sword colliding with the wall echoed across the battlefield, but it failed to pierce through. The earth Wu Wen had summoned was no ordinary dirt. It possessed high elasticity, absorbed vibration, and reflected energy at the same time.

Sui Yi's sword wave bounced back as if it had been reflected off a mirror.

As the wave returned toward her, she simply flicked her sword lightly. The reflected energy dissolved into the air without resistance.

At the same time, Wu Wen completed fusing Hua Jinru's head to her body using the special clay. Though her body had been restored, there was no breath within it. But when he had killed her, he had not destroyed her soul. Which meant she still had a chance to return.

Wu Wen looked down at her body in silence. Then his voice rose, soft yet clear with every syllable.

"At that moment, I had nothing left. My soul hall was shattered. My son had no path to reincarnation. Sui Zimeng chose to slaughter me and my clan. I thought everything was already over."

Suddenly, Wu Wen raised his hand again.

Earth-elemental power swirled around him, and in the next moment, it flung Sui Qi's body away. He gathered his strength once more, and the earth around him began to churn, forming a massive circular shell of soil that surrounded him, Ye Lin, and Hua Jinru's body.

The six women launched their attacks immediately, but they were too late. The earth had already sealed the three of them inside. From the outside, no one could see what was happening within. Inside the earthen sphere, Wu Wen pulled a ring from within his robe and tossed it toward Ye Lin's unmoving body.

"Inside that ring is your master's soul."

His voice was firm and without hesitation.

"Give me the souls of the Ye Clan. I will remove the blood curse."

Ye Lin, who had been recovering thanks to Duan Lingchen's power and waiting for the right moment, slowly rose from the ground. His arm… had regrown, restored by Duan Lingchen's high-level healing.

But even with his body healing, he did not lower his guard. His eyes were full of caution, unwavering. His defenses remained at full strength without faltering for even a second.

He said nothing, only stared at Wu Wen in silence. Black flames remained active and ready. But at that moment, a voice spoke calmly within his mind. It was Duan Lingchen.

"Boy. Give him the souls of the Ye Clan. You don't have to trust him. But you can trust me."

Ye Lin clenched his teeth. His expression wavered between hesitation and resolve.

Then he made his choice. He opened Han Ming's soul ring and brought out the souls of the Ye Clan.

Hundreds of pale soul lights drifted slowly out from the ring. The spirit forms emanated a chilling aura that filled the earthen sphere. Without saying a word, Ye Lin sent them toward Wu Wen, ready to reclaim them at a moment's notice if Wu Wen showed even the slightest irregularity.

Within the cold silence of the earthen dome, Wu Wen sat still amidst the floating souls. He slowly lifted his head and took a deep breath, drawing the air all the way to the depths of his lungs. Then he raised his hand and began to trace ancient characters in the air, one by one.

The characters shimmered in a dim black light before scattering like drops of ink vanishing into water.

Suddenly, the hundreds of surrounding souls began to emit faint, sorrowful cries. A dense black aura gradually seeped from their bodies, flowing rapidly toward Wu Wen like a rushing river.

Dark burns began to spread from the tips of his fingers, crawling up his arms and chest, expanding rapidly like fire racing through dry leaves.

"Urgh...!"

Wu Wen gritted his teeth. The pain crashing into him wasn't just physical. It gnawed at his very soul, piercing down to the origin of his life. Blood streamed from the wounds and trickled from the corner of his mouth, bitten open by his own clenched jaw.

Duan Lingchen sat watching the scene unfold, his expression weary. If it had been his former self, he could have shattered the curse with a mere flick of his finger. But now... his current state was too weakened. Killing even an immortal was beyond him for the moment.

His gaze shifted toward Ye Lin, who sat motionless like a carved statue. A murderous aura seeped uncontrollably from his body. As for the Blood Curse, even if Ye Lin tried to follow Duan Lingchen's instructions to lift it, it might be possible in theory. But his cultivation level was far too weak. Even with a Great Emperor-grade pill, attempting to remove the curse right now would be no different than mass suicide.

Duan Lingchen watched Wu Wen quietly as the man chose the very method he had been considering himself, which was to draw the entire curse into his own body. He had never told Ye Lin about this method because he knew that once Ye Lin learned of it, the boy would never allow Duan Lingchen to bear the curse in his place. Ye Lin would do everything in his power to take it on himself. Duan Lingchen could not bear to let Ye Lin carry such a burden, as it would destroy his future in the long run.

There was another method, to force the curse onto someone from the Golden Crow Dynasty. However, both Duan Lingchen and Ye Lin were currently too weak to extract the blood curse from the spirits and transfer it to another. The final method was the one Wu Wen was using, absorbing the curse into himself, but that path required complete willingness. In this situation, no one would willingly volunteer, except perhaps Duan Lingchen or Ye Lin.

After weighing all possibilities, the only path left was the one Duan Lingchen had hoped to avoid. If all else failed, they would have to kill the curse wielder.

Inside the sphere of earth, the wind howled violently. The ancient characters had already dispersed. The blood curse, embedded in the spirits of the Ye clan, was completely removed. What remained was Wu Wen's body, slowly collapsing.

Duan Lingchen looked at Ye Lin, who was releasing a killing intent that surged from his body uncontrollably, and spoke.

"Gather their souls. As for your master, that is up to you. If you still want her to remain in this world, wrap her body in a shroud and transfer her soul from Wu Wen's ring to Han Ming's ring."

Ye Lin did not wait for him to repeat the instruction. He immediately raised his hand, his fingers tightening around the ring Han Ming had entrusted to him. The silver soul ring gleamed faintly as his power infused it.

Whoosh.

A soft wave of energy pulled all the souls into the ring, like moths drawn into a flame.

Then he slowly walked to Hua Jinru's body. With both hands, he gently cradled her form. Carefully, he unfolded a blue cloth and wrapped her body in it with solemn reverence.

After that, he picked up Wu Wen's ring and softly summoned Hua Jinru's soul, treating it as if it would shatter with the slightest force. Then, with utmost care, he guided her spirit into the ring Han Ming had given him.