northernbook Chapter 68 The Cursed One
Chapter 68 The Cursed One
"They've already arrived..." Ren Jixing originally wanted to sit down and start recovering his spiritual power, but the village bully the little girl had mentioned had already attacked.
The young woman lying on the earthen bed had regained her mobility, but she showed no panic, and the little girl suddenly fell silent.
"You guys hide right now, I'm coming... uh..."
He had only spoken halfway when Ren Jixing felt a chill run down his back, as if something sharp had pierced his flesh. This was followed by a numbing sensation, and his consciousness began to blur.
......
"Hmm... what's going on..."
After an unknown amount of time, Ren Jixing finally opened his eyes with difficulty. He touched his still throbbing head and looked around. But when he saw everything clearly, he was jolted awake. He was in a prison cell.
Just as he was about to stand up, he suddenly felt a sharp pain in his left foot. Ren Jixing turned his head and saw that his left ankle was locked with an iron lock, and a chain as thick as an arm was connected to a large iron ball, completely restricting his movement.
"My cultivation level... this iron lock... could it possibly restrict my cultivation? Damn it..." Ren Jixing endured the excruciating pain and shouted towards the iron gate, "Is anyone there? Who locked me up in this place?"
No sooner had the words left his mouth than a voice came from the next cell: "Stop shouting, be quiet!"
Judging from the voice, it sounded like a burly man. Ren Jixing continued, "Fellow Daoist, how did you end up locked up here too? Can you tell me what happened?"
The burly man replied in a deep voice, "This is a stronghold of an evil cultivation organization. They specifically seek out cultivators who have been cursed by demons, capture them, and conduct all sorts of ridiculous experiments on them. You're probably one of those cultivators, and you were captured and brought here after being targeted by them."
"What...a demonic curse? Am I not the only one who has been cursed?" Ren Jixing was incredulous. He had never seen anyone else who was cursed like him.
He had also suspected that he might have encountered such people before, but they hadn't shown any signs and he hadn't noticed. But this so-called evil cultivation organization was still shameful.
"Of course you're not the only one. I was also cursed. I happened to run into this group of evil cultivators while hunting demonic beasts. Damn it... I was blind and didn't realize that these people were up to no good. I got tricked and locked up here with no way out."
The more the man talked, the angrier he became. He punched the iron gate, which made a metallic buzzing sound.
Upon hearing this, Ren Jixing collapsed to the ground, utterly helpless in the face of the current situation, and could only await his doom.
The iron lock on the ankle seemed to be made of a special material. It was not only extremely hard, but it could also disrupt the spiritual power in the cultivator's meridians, making them uncontrollable by the cultivator. As a result, no matter how strong your cultivation was, you would not be able to use it at all.
About half an hour later, a door opened outside the dark cell, and a woman walked out. She was scantily clad, had a hot figure, a stunning face, and long purple hair. She walked into the cell with a mocking expression.
Hearing the commotion, Ren Jixing looked up and glanced over. Upon seeing the woman's face, he abruptly stood up, wincing in pain from his injured left foot. He rushed to the iron gate and confronted the woman, demanding:
"It was you?! You vile woman, I kindly saved you, and you betrayed me!"
But the woman gave a mocking laugh and walked towards Ren Jixing, her expression gradually turning cold: "Kid, do you really think you've done something good? Hehehe... Let me tell you the truth, I sensed your presence more than ten days ago, but just in case, I still arranged this scene to fool you."
After all, I don't really understand what kind of bizarre abilities you cursed people possess. Minimizing losses is the best approach.
Ren Jixing was about to say something more when the burly man next to him started cursing, but the woman pretended not to hear and turned away.
Through the iron bars, Ren Jixing saw a little girl standing at the cell door; she was the same village girl who had lied to him that her mother was sick.
At this moment, the girl was no longer dressed in coarse linen clothes, but in a gorgeous purple dress, with a gold and jade hairpin in her hair, looking like a daughter of a wealthy family.
Seeing Ren Jixing's astonished expression, the girl raised her chin triumphantly, her face full of mockery, then turned around and pressed the switch, tightly closing the cell door.
"Damn it... I have never done anything immoral or wrong in my life, yet I have encountered this calamity... How awful!"
Thinking of this, Ren Jixing suddenly realized that his junior brother Zhang Yunling was still breaking through at the foot of the mountain. He wondered if he had been harmed by these evil cultivators or if he could find out that he had been captured here.
With a touch of his left hand, he found that the storage bag at his waist had already been taken away. He was left with only a black Taoist robe from the Quanzhen School on his body. Unable to activate his cultivation, Ren Jixing completely lost confidence and collapsed to the ground, at a loss.
......
The woman emerged from the underground cell and entered a hall on the surface. Several cultivators dressed in purple robes approached, bowed respectfully, and reported:
"Reporting to Lord Pei Yao, the research on the previously cursed person has yielded results. The curse on that person is of the same type as the previous ones, originating from the primordial power left behind by ancient demons from the Western Regions, which was transmitted into their bodies through various means."
Pei Yao nodded and asked the other cultivator, "Anything else?"
The monk bowed respectfully and replied, "My lord, we have discovered two types of curses. One type is able to use the power of the curse to greatly enhance itself, exhibiting characteristics similar to a water-type monster. The monk who was experimented on used this power during our capture, causing us great losses."
Subsequent research revealed that this power, even when not manifested, possessed a strange ability: any cultivator who approached this cursed individual, regardless of their cultivation level, would develop feelings of jealousy and hatred towards others around them. This even led to a squad leader responsible for capturing the cursed individual attacking their leader.
"The other type of curse is relatively common. We have captured three such cultivators who can use their curse power to enter a berserk state."
The recent experiment is a case in point. The cultivator who was originally only at the Foundation Establishment stage raised his strength to a level comparable to the early Golden Core stage after using this power.
Currently, the side effects of this curse cause the cultivator to enter a period of weakness after his power dissipates. However, if used properly, it can be very helpful for our future plans.
After listening to their reports, Pei Yao nodded in satisfaction and instructed them to continue their research. She then turned and walked to the main seat in the hall, where she sat alone and began to ponder.