nucmednet Chapter 166: Tracing the Origin of the Curse and Breaking the Dilemma
Chapter 166: Tracing the Origin of the Curse and Breaking the Dilemma
The compass needle pointed steadily towards the center of the fairy world, and an ominous premonition enveloped Bi Yao and Li Yuan.
Although the demon was eliminated, the unusual movement of the compass indicated that a greater crisis was still lurking.
Bi Yao held Li Yuan's hand tightly, the coldness of her fingertips conveying her inner uneasiness.
"It seems that this is the real beginning." She took a deep breath, with a hint of determination in her tone.
An inexplicable force pulled them, and the two of them almost involuntarily flew in the direction indicated by the compass.
What I saw along the way was shocking.
The once vibrant world of immortals and heroes is now shrouded in a haze.
The grass and trees withered, the rivers dried up, and even the air was filled with a disgusting stench of decay.
What's even more terrifying is that some low-level cultivators have begun to show abnormalities. Their eyes are empty and their bodies are twisted, as if they are controlled by some evil force.
"This curse... is more serious than we imagined." Li Yuan frowned and spoke in a serious tone.
He used his spiritual power to try to dispel the black energy from a cultivator who was under the control of a curse, but he found that the black energy was like a cancer attached to his bones and could not be dispelled at all.
"We must find the source of the curse!" A hint of determination flashed in Bi Yao's eyes.
She thought of the ruins where she first discovered the abnormal movement of the compass, perhaps she could find some clues there.
The two immediately changed direction and flew towards the ruins.
However, when they stepped into the ruins again, the scene before them shocked them.
The once magnificent building has now become a ruin, and the broken walls are filled with a strong smell of death.
The ground is covered with strange runes, emitting a terrifying dark power.
With every step they took, Bi Yao and Li Yuan felt a strong resistance, as if an invisible hand was pulling them, trying to drag them into the abyss.
The power of darkness continues to erode their bodies and consume their spiritual power.
"Be careful!" Bi Yao grabbed Li Yuan and dodged a sudden black energy wave.
The energy wave hit the wall with a loud bang and left a charred mark.
"The power of the curse here is several times stronger than before!" Li Yuan's face was solemn. He held his sword tightly in his hand and looked around vigilantly.
Bi Yao took out an exquisite silver box from the storage bag. After opening it, there was some shimmering powder inside.
"This is the exorcism powder I made earlier. It should be able to temporarily resist the erosion of the curse." She sprinkled the powder on the two of them, and sure enough, the dark power around them weakened slightly.
The two walked forward cautiously. The stench in the air became stronger and stronger, almost suffocating them.
Suddenly, Bi Yao stopped and his eyes fell on a pattern on the ground in front of him.
"Wait..." She squatted down and looked at the pattern carefully, frowning.
"This pattern..."
Li Yuan also came over and looked at the pattern, a hint of doubt flashed in his eyes.
"what happened?"
"This pattern... I seem to have seen it somewhere..." Bi Yao muttered to herself, her fingers gently stroking the lines on the pattern. Suddenly, an image flashed through her mind...
An image from her modern memory...
"This is……"
Bi Yao suddenly raised his head, a hint of shock flashing in his eyes.
"I remember now! This pattern is very similar to the waveform of some energy waves I saw in the modern world!"
Although Li Yuan didn't understand what the energy waveform was, the certainty in Bi Yao's tone made him realize that this might be an important clue.
"Is there anything special about it?"
"This waveform represents an extremely unstable energy, easily mutated by external interference," Bi Yao explained. "If the energy fluctuations of this curse also have similar characteristics, then perhaps we can use some method to interfere with it and find its source!"
She quickly took out a dark spirit crystal she had obtained earlier from her storage bag.
This spiritual crystal emitted a strange black light, and was exactly what they had accidentally obtained during a previous adventure.
"I suspect this dark spirit crystal has some connection to the power of the curse."
Bi Yao brought the dark spirit crystal close to the pattern on the ground. The black light on the spirit crystal suddenly became stronger and began to resonate with the lines on the pattern, making a buzzing sound.
Immediately afterwards, a stream of black energy shot out from the spirit crystal, spreading along the pattern on the ground, and finally pointing in one direction.
"It's guiding us!" Li Yuan said excitedly.
The two immediately moved forward in the direction indicated by the black energy flow, passed through a fog, and came to a seemingly ordinary wall.
Bi Yao brought the dark spirit crystal close to the wall again, and suddenly a crack appeared on the wall, revealing a hidden passage.
"It seems that we have found it." Bi Yao smiled and stepped into the passage first.
Li Yuan held Bi Yao's hand tightly. He looked into Bi Yao's eyes and said, "No matter what, we have to face it together." Bi Yao nodded and shook his hand back.
At the end of the passage is a heavy stone door.
Bi Yao and Li Yuan worked together to push open the stone door, and a cold breath hit them in the face.
Behind the stone gate is a spacious secret room, in the center of which stands a huge altar.
The altar is engraved with strange runes, emitting an unsettling aura.
Suddenly, a subtle sound came from deep inside the secret room...
"What's that sound?" Bi Yao clenched the dagger in his hand.
Deep in the secret room, the sound of metal friction became clearer and clearer. Several puppets wearing tattered armor slowly walked out, and a faint green light flickered in their empty eye sockets.
Their movements were stiff, but they were extremely powerful. They brandished their rusty weapons and approached Bi Yao and Li Yuan.
The puppets' attacks were swift and strange. They were not afraid of pain and showed no reaction even when scratched by sharp blades, continuing to attack frantically.
Bi Yao and Li Yuan fought and retreated, and for a while they were unable to withstand it.
"These puppets have no sense of pain, so we can't fight them head-on!" Bi Yao dodged a heavy blow by turning sideways, and her slender figure moved flexibly between the puppets.
Li Yuan swung his sword, and a stream of sword energy struck the puppet, but only left a shallow mark.
His brows furrowed as he suddenly remembered reading about puppets in ancient books. "Puppets...are afraid of fire!"
Before he finished speaking, the sword in Li Yuan's hand burst into flames, and the hot breath instantly swept through the entire secret room.
He flew up like a burning fire, the sword light turned into a fire dragon, roaring and rushing towards the puppet.
Bi Yao understood what he meant, and with her white hands flying, streams of ice-blue spiritual power wrapped around the fire dragon like spirit snakes. The extreme cold and extreme heat intertwined, erupting with even more powerful power.
The immortal cultivators who were originally watching around were all amazed. Such exquisite coordination was seamless.
Under the burning flames, the puppet let out a shrill roar, its body gradually disintegrated, and finally turned into ashes.
The dust settled and the secret room returned to peace.
Bi Yao and Li Yuan walked to the altar and found an ancient book written in ancient characters at the bottom of the altar.
Opening the ancient book, it records the origin of the curse and the method to lift the curse.
"Five sacred objects..." Bi Yao whispered the words from the ancient book, "Only by gathering all five sacred objects can the curse be completely lifted."
Ancient books record that these five holy objects are scattered in five extremely dangerous places in the world of immortals and heroes: the Fiery Valley, the Ice Abyss, the Misty Forest, the Thunder Peak, and the Netherworld.
Li Yuan closed the ancient book, a trace of solemnity flashing in his eyes.
"Five dangerous places... It seems our journey has just begun."
Bi Yao looked at Li Yuan, with a determined light in her eyes.
She placed her hand gently on the ancient book and said, "No matter how many difficulties and obstacles there are ahead, we must face them together."
Suddenly, Bi Yao's eyes fell on a line of small words on the title page of the ancient book. Her face suddenly changed, and she grabbed Li Yuan's arm, "Wait..."