Chapter One: Heaven's First Floor

  The butcher's footsteps stopped abruptly at the door, and after a moment of surprise, he said outside the house, "Xiao Shi, what's wrong with you?"

  Shen Shi really didn't expect that suddenly, the small can inexplicably shattered in front of him in such a way that was both laughable and pitiful. His mind was still in a daze, and he subconsciously mumbled a sentence, saying: "Uh... I'm fine, Uncle, accidentally broke a teacup."

  "Oh." The butcher let out a sigh of relief, seemingly not intending to barge in either. He just casually asked from outside the door, "I'll come over and ask if you're hungry or not. If so, we can go eat something first?"

  Shen Shi glanced casually at the broken pieces of small jars on the ground, and for a moment, he didn't have time to look closely. He hurriedly ran over to open the door, only to see Butcher standing in the corridor outside the door. When he looked up at the sky, it had already darkened without him realizing it.

  The butcher looked at him and smiled, saying: "I'll take you to eat something, after eating come back to rest, sleep well tonight, and tomorrow go to Bai Xian Yan."

  Shen Shi hesitated for a moment, nodded and said, "Okay." He walked out and closed the door behind him.

  The butcher walked out with him and said casually, "I'll get someone to help you clean up the house later?"

  "It's alright... no need, it's just a small matter, I can handle it myself." Shen Shi let out a light breath and declined.

  The butcher didn't take it to heart, and the two of them just walked out like that.

  The small courtyard stood quietly in the dim light of dusk, with the door separating the inside from the outside. At this moment, no one could see what was inside the house.

  About half a time later, the footsteps sounded again, and it was Shen Shi and Tu Fu who returned. At this time, the sky had almost darkened, and Tu Fu reminded Shen Shi of a few words before returning to his room first.

  Shen Shi looked up at the darkening night sky, slowly walked back to his own door, and for some reason, his mood suddenly became a little uneasy. For a while, he didn't immediately push open the door, but instead carefully thought back on things.

  When the small jar fell and shattered on the table, Shen Shi suddenly felt a sense of guilt and nervousness, as if he had been caught red-handed, due to the butcher's sudden arrival. In his haste, he only took a quick glance at the ground before rushing out. Now that he thinks back, he doesn't really remember what was inside the jar, except for a vague recollection of something black mixed in with the broken pieces on the ground, but he didn't get a clear look at it.

  At that time, I was in a hurry to deal with the butcher, and I didn't think much about it. Now that I think back, it seems that what's sealed in this jar shouldn't be some kind of ghost or evil spirit that I imagined, but rather my own fear of myself.

  Shen Shi smiled wryly and took a deep breath before pushing open the door and walking in.

  The room was already in darkness, but Shen Shi still remembered the layout of the furniture inside. He closed the door and felt his way around, soon finding the candles and flint on the cabinet. After lighting them, the warm yellow flame illuminated the room, bringing a bit of brightness to the space, and casting his shadow on the wall, flickering constantly.

  Shen Shi took the candle back to the table, and indeed saw that the fragments were still scattered on the ground next to the table, just like before he left. He carefully squatted down, placed the candle on the ground, and slowly separated the fragments under the candlelight.

  This small pot is also an ancient object from many years ago, its exterior has long been eroded and worn out, but after it was smashed, Shen Shi saw the inner side of the fragments under the candlelight and found that the inside of the pot was surprisingly smooth and delicate, reflecting a faint greenish-blue color in the candlelight, like the luster of precious gems.

  Shen Shi let out a soft "hmm" and his spirit was suddenly lifted. If the outside of this small jar had been as smooth and lustrous as the inside back then, judging from the exquisite craftsmanship, it would absolutely not be an ordinary jar. It's likely that only wealthy and aristocratic families could use such a fine thing.

  As a result, he opened his eyes wider and carefully picked up the fragments on the ground one by one. A black stick-like object was exposed halfway under a pile of fragments, entering his line of sight.

  Is this what was sealed in the small jar?

  Shen Shi carefully looked at it, but couldn't see anything unusual. Just as he was about to pick it up and take a closer look, he hesitated for a moment before picking up a nearby fragment instead, gently stirring the small black stick with it.

  The black stick rolled out of the pile of fragments, about three inches long, pure black in color, but not made of gold or wood. Shen Shi brought the candle closer to take a closer look and found that the material was surprisingly like a kind of silk fabric he had never seen before. The entire black stick looked like a rolled-up scroll.

  "Could it be a scroll..." Shen Shi muttered to himself, before this, he had not thought that it would be such a thing. He hesitated for a moment, then reached out and picked up the small black roll. The texture was soft and dense, just like a piece of satin. Holding it in his hand and examining it for a while, he discovered that there was no opening on this strange black scroll, it was a solid black circle without any seams or gaps, with no way to open it.

  What's going on again... A strange object was hidden in this strange little jar, Shen Shi was really confused, just at this moment, a faint golden light suddenly flashed at the edge of one end of the black scroll.

  Shen Shi's gaze shifted over, and he saw that the round tail of the scroll was originally without any unusual signs. However, it seemed that earlier, when he had been carefully observing this thing, he had inadvertently moved that side closer to the candle flame. Under the scorching heat of the flames, a layer of black powder appeared on the tail of the scroll. The faint golden light was revealed because earlier, he had unintentionally rubbed away some of the black powder while continuously stroking the small black scroll.

  It had come to this, and he simply used force on the black small scroll's tail end, wiping it several times. Sure enough, only fine black powder fell down with a rustling sound, and the golden light quickly became bright and dazzling. After a moment, when the black powder had fallen clean, Shen Shi's body suddenly shook, his movements seeming to stiffen, as he stared blankly at the thing revealed under the black powder.

  It was a pattern of chrysanthemum, seven leaves, with magnificent and resplendent golden color, shining brightly in the dark, emitting dazzling light.

  Seven-leaf Chrysanthemum!

  At that moment, Shen Shi only felt his breathing pause for a moment, and then a huge joy suddenly surged up in his heart. It was an excitement from the bottom of his heart, not because the object in front of him would be worth any value, but in fact, until now, Shen Shi still couldn't figure out what this black small scroll was, whether it had any value to him or not. But he was still genuinely delighted, excited to the point where he couldn't help but clench his fist and swing it forcefully once.

  At this moment, he just said loudly in his heart: "Indeed, it's indeed the seven-leaf chrysanthemum flower, I didn't misjudge!"

  This can be considered a kind of reward for his own eyesight, even if no one else knows about it at the moment. As long as he himself knows that he didn't misjudge, Shen Shi is still immersed in a great sense of satisfaction. After a while, he slowly calmed down, with a smile still on his face. At this moment, he even had such a thought in his heart: even if this small black scroll isn't anything good, it seems like it doesn't matter anymore.

  However, this small black scroll with the seven-leafed golden flower printed on it is obviously without a doubt something that was used by the You Huang tribe during the Tian Yao Wang Ting era, and being sealed in a jar as a burial object makes it even harder to guess what it actually is.

  Shen Shi suppressed the excitement in his heart and carefully observed the small black scroll again, flipping it over and over, but still couldn't find any opening mechanism on the scroll body. After a moment of contemplation, he shifted his attention back to the seven-leaf golden sunflower pattern.

  He stretched out a finger, gently placed it on the golden sunflower, rubbed it slightly, and a soft golden light flashed from the edge of his finger, but apart from that, there was no movement. Shen Shi furrowed his brow, thinking to himself, "Could this not be the mechanism to open the scroll? How am I supposed to open it?"

  His gaze swept over the pattern of the sunflower, hesitated for a moment, and then pointed down, moving from the flower to the seven leaves below. Each leaf was lightly pressed once, first, second, third... The black scroll remained unresponsive, which made Shen Shi feel somewhat disheartened. Just as he had almost completely lost hope and was about to give up when pressing the sixth leaf, suddenly, a crisp "crack" sound came from inside the small black scroll. Shen Shi felt his hand lighten, and the surface of the seemingly seamless and intact scroll suddenly split open with a fine crack.

  Shen Shi was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed, almost jumping up. He hastily grabbed the black scroll and picked up the candle, sitting down at the table. Using the candlelight, he slowly opened the black scroll along the seam.

  The candle flame burned quietly, emitting a warm glow that illuminated the interior of the slowly unfolding scroll in front of young Shen Shi. The first thing to enter his eyes was three large vertical characters:

  Yin Yang Curse.

  Inside the black scroll, rows of golden small characters are neatly arranged on the black fabric surface. Under the dim candlelight, these texts that have been unseen for who knows how many years, quietly and silently reflected in Shen Shi's eyes, flashing with a golden glow.

  In the blink of an eye, it was as if the ancient and distant past had returned, with its untamed aura, the golden color that once dominated the winds and clouds, after being shrouded in dust for many years, finally faintly regained some of its luster.

  Shen Shi silently watched from head to toe, his expression slowly calming down from the initial excitement and joy, gradually becoming puzzled and a little dazed.

  The black scroll in front of him, through the golden text on the scroll, he roughly knew what it was. In fact, this should be a residual fragment of a technique called "Yin Yang Curse".

  The name of the Yin Yang Curse is written clearly in the first three big characters, and it's very straightforward. However, it's said to be a fragment because there are some simple explanations among the texts. The Yin Yang Curse is divided into two types: "Yin Curse" and "Yang Curse". Among them, the Yin Curse has four kinds of curse techniques, while the Yang Curse has five. As for the black scroll in front of us, it only records one of the Yang Curse techniques, called "Clear Heart Curse".

  Shen Shi carefully read the Qing Xin Zhou, then slowly put down the scroll in his hand, remained silent for a long time, furrowed his brow, and after a good while, spoke to himself in a somewhat uncertain tone:

  "Does this seem like some kind of... invigorating technique?"

  Unconsciously, it's been a few days since I've been updating twice a day, and I found that I'm slowly getting used to this kind of life...