Chapter 8: Heaven's Wrath and Earth's Fury

  "Dad, this is really too much! I'm sorry, I've been wrong to blame you all along. Faced with the curse of the ten thousand souls, do we really not have any way out? Aren't we the descendants of the judges of life and death? The Yang Shi Yin Guan sounds formidable, can't even they lift this curse? Is there really no solution at all? Those big shots who control the heavens should be quite powerful, right?"

  It's obvious that at this moment, I have already entered my own role and completely believed in everything in front of me. Although it's absurd, if something can be absurd to such an extent, then it must be true, because I believe that what is even more absurd than the absurd must be the truth.

  His father nodded silently, "Many people have tried to lift this curse before. In the past, Li Chunfeng, a national master of the Tang Dynasty, was a close friend of our ancestors and is considered a terrestrial immortal. If anyone can lift the curse of the Ten Thousand Souls, it would be Li Chunfeng and Yuan Tiangang, two terrestrial immortals!"

  Lifting the curse of the Cui family's ten thousand souls can be said to be both a public and private matter. In public, our Cui family's experience is also considered an occupational injury for the country and the people. In private, Li Chunfeng and our ancestors were sworn brothers. Li Chunfeng had thought of many ways to break this curse of ten thousand souls, but these numerous grievances had no effect despite external intervention. Even Emperor Taizong of Tang, Li Shimin, used the power of the Azure Dragon of the Li family, wanting to use the ultimate yang energy of the human world to eliminate this evil resentment. However, with so many vengeful spirits and such deep-seated grudges, it ultimately ended in failure!

  Later, Li Chunfeng devoted himself to calculations, wanting to deduce a way to break the curse of the Ten Thousand Souls. The world knows that Li Chunfeng wrote "Tui Bei Tu", this heavenly book with the reputation of being the first prophecy in Huaxia. People think that "Tui Bei Tu" is used to measure national fortune and calculate dragon energy, but that's not true. The fundamental reason for the appearance of "Tui Bei Tu" is actually to break the curse of the Ten Thousand Souls, and the national fortune of Huaxia after 2000 years since the prosperous Tang Dynasty is only mentioned incidentally.

  In the "Tui Bei Tu", when Li Chunfeng calculated to the 60th diagram, he deduced: The curse of Wan Hun will be endless if it is not resolved. If external forces are used to suppress it, it will only get worse. The bloodline of the Cui family will be severed, and the Cui family will be exterminated. To lift the curse, one can only disperse it, not block it; one can only use soft methods, not hard ones. To resolve this endless resentment, one must inject the blood of Xuanwu into the Cui family's fate. After igniting the black-colored Xuanwu blood and awakening the scorched-blood Xuanwu, use its power to pour into the Qitian altar, and with this heavenly ritual, let the vengeful spirit obtain amnesty. Remove the hat of the remaining scum of the previous dynasty, grant a title, and pacify them. From wandering ghosts and wild demons to becoming ghostly generals, once they have a position, they will no longer cause trouble; once they have a name, they will no longer fight.

  I heard this and my emotions fluctuated greatly, it was as if my blood was boiling. After thinking for a moment, I said: "I understand, so these vengeful spirits and ghosts became the foundation of the prosperous Tang Dynasty because of their own deaths. With the benevolent King of Tang ascending to the throne with the mandate of heaven, he granted amnesty to all under heaven, pacified former ministers, and rewarded those who surrendered from the previous dynasty. However, these dead ghostly soldiers did not gain any benefits, so they harbored resentment and wanted revenge. After finally finding an opportunity to bring the King of Tang to the underworld, they were thwarted by their ancestors' trickery and did not gain anything. Watching their living comrades enjoy good food and drink, while they could only drink the northwest wind in the underworld, forgotten and unremembered, they gave rise to resentment and wanted revenge. But because the King of Tang had the protection of the Azure Dragon's power, they could only blame my Cui family, so my Cui family became the scapegoat!"

  I looked up at my father: "If Li Chunfeng can deduce the method of breaking the curse, why not directly deduce a way to ignite the Xuanwu blood and solve it? Maybe our fate will be rewritten now, and we might even live a happy life! Why let this evil curse torment our Cui family for so many years?" After I finished speaking in one breath, I regretted it. If it were that simple, why would they have to wait until my generation to commit suicide and ignite the Xuanwu blood? How could it lead to the current situation if it were really possible?

  His father sighed and said, "Maybe all of this is fate. The clue to igniting the Xuanwu blood and obtaining the data for the Tianyi ceremony's four divine artifacts was on that 61st diagram. Just as Li Chunfeng was calculating the key to igniting the Xuanwu blood, Yuan Tiangai, who was drunk, accidentally pushed Li Chunfeng, interrupting his calculation of the result. If only he had been one second later, he would have known how to obtain the Zhuoxue Xuanwu. It was this one second that allowed this evil curse to continue for a thousand years!

  The misfortune turned out to be a blessing in disguise, as the national master Li Chunfeng managed to persuade his master, Yuan Daochang, to come out of seclusion after 49 days. He obtained the Xuanwu divine talisman and injected the only drop of Xuanwu's blood into the Cui family's fate, allowing the Cui family to continue their legacy. This treatment of symptoms rather than the root cause has led to our current situation."

  Upon hearing Father's words, I was like two steamed buns stuck in my throat, and blurted out, "I'm shocked, isn't that so? Our family's grudge against him is quite ordinary, right? So this Yuan Tian Gang is our arch-nemesis of the Cui family! This guy is really not a good thing, I was deceived by his little talent when I read about him in history books!"

  My father listened to my words, perhaps shocked by the uncultured language of a cultured person like me. He shook his head in astonishment: "This is just fate, and Yuan Tiangai is just a pawn in that fate. If he hadn't gotten drunk, maybe an apple would have fallen on Li Shunfeng or a bird's droppings would have landed on him - all sorts of possibilities are predetermined, and you can't escape them, no wonder it happened to him." As for the Xuanwu blood, its origins date back to a little-known period during the prosperous Tang Dynasty. The four symbols of the Tang Dynasty were distributed among different families: the green dragon's energy was bestowed upon the Li family, making them prominent; the white tiger's power belonged to Qin Shubao, who wrote brilliant works; the vermilion bird's influence fell on Wu Zetian, who flourished during the Tang Dynasty. Meanwhile, the Xuanwu blood flowed through our Cui family lineage, specifically the Cui Jue clan. However, the effect of the Xuanwu blood was to protect one's life but not dispel curses; it could treat symptoms but not root causes. Therefore, in every generation of the Cui family, one person would inherit that single drop of Xuanwu blood at birth to protect their life. Only when one generation died and another was born could they control the resentment of the Wan Soul Curse. But it was only control, after all.

  Every member of the Cui family cannot reunite with their loved ones. If they do, they will be lonely for life and wither away like me when they grow old. Taizong felt guilty towards my Cui family and ordered National Master Li Chunfeng to calculate day and night how to ignite the blood of Xuanwu. As a result, he left behind this regret that lasted for a thousand years. Yuan Tiangang, who felt guilty, left his earth soul in the mortal world as an atonement when he ascended to immortality, vowing to help the Cui family find a way to ignite the blood of Xuanwu and becoming the messenger of the Cui family for generations to come. This earth soul is what you see as Xu Bo.

  My father's words left me stunned, and I stared at the white leprosy behind him. No wonder there was no sign of life; it turned out that this thing wasn't human! Just as I was about to ask my father what this "white leprosy" in front of me was, I suddenly discovered something even stranger: right in front of me, my father, who was speaking to me, didn't have the slightest movement between his lips and teeth. Yet, I could hear him saying something; it was as if speaking no longer required a mouth or ears. What was the eerie blue light in his eyes? It was as if he had directly put what he wanted to say into my brain. This strange feeling left me bewildered, with a sense of being half asleep and half awake.

  At that moment, I recalled that I had just thought about the idea of crossing over, and my father had said so much with his mouth hanging open. I was still amazed at how he knew what I was thinking, when it was only a curious thought at the time. Now, looking back, there must be some mystery to this, could it be telepathy? I carefully pondered the natural principles that might be hidden in the scene before me, but couldn't quite figure it out. I remembered that I hadn't heard anything just now, and these words had appeared directly in my mind, not through any loudspeaker-like principle. At this moment, as I looked at my father sitting in his wheelchair, his entire eye sockets were a deep blue color, looking like a melancholic blue ocean. This made me very curious, it completely defied the laws of physics!

  To confirm that I didn't develop any auditory hallucinations or other after-effects from the fall, I first coughed to make sure I could hear myself, then pinched my earlobe hard enough to feel a burning pain. I also silently recited a multiplication table and several ancient poems in my head, and solved a few brain teasers. After that, I was certain of one thing: this wasn't an illusion, and I hadn't gone crazy! Everything around me was real.

  Just then, my father suddenly changed the subject and said, "Don't worry, kiddo, my brain is fine?"

  And then my father's words flowed into my mind like a gentle stream: "Now I'm using the Cui family's mind-reading technique, please nod if you receive it!" I nodded in surprise, and immediately my father's voice appeared in my mind: "All members of the Cui family have the natural ability to read minds and communicate with each other through thought, which is a natural ability passed down from our ancestors. We can use our thoughts to exchange ideas naturally, but if we want to read others' minds, we need to concentrate our hearts and minds, take a deep breath, and focus our energy. With our eyes as the gate, and our heart as the lips, we gather our thoughts, rub our eyes repeatedly, and blue light appears. Simply put, all you need to do is focus your mind and rub your eyes until blue light appears, and you can read the strongest thoughts in someone's mind."

  I looked at my father and whispered: "Dad, how can you see blue light and read minds without even rubbing your eyes?"

  The father looked at his hands helplessly and said, "This bone-eating wound can't be rubbed away, I suppose the mind-reading technique has also upgraded after entering the bone-eating stage."

  Looking at my gloomy expression, Father smiled and said: "It's okay, it's okay. The drop of Xuanwu blood in your body has ignited at this moment, which means you have obtained the Zhuo Xue Xuanwu, just like your ancestors. Not only can you read minds, but also souls! The principle is similar, only the usage method is different. The soul-reading technique allows you to know the strongest intention of the yin soul, such as why evil spirits are evil and what grievances the vengeful spirits have. It's considered the most efficient skill for interrogating ghosts! As for the method of reading souls, so far, only you have mastered it, so your ancestors should teach you!"

  "Who?" I stared at Father in astonishment, deeply doubting whether I had misheard what he just said.

  "Ancestors, hurry up and judge." Father said with certainty.

  "Ancestors coming to find me?" I thought with goosebumps about the ancestral image that Father mentioned earlier.

  Father nodded "Go with the flow, use the unchanging to respond to the changing, nothing's wrong!"

  I nodded nervously.

  "My father's words made me sweat even more. 'The use of this mind-reading technique requires a unified heart and spirit, no evil thoughts, and it can only be used for about an hour at a time. Through years of use, I advise you not to use it casually, especially in the initial stages. This repeated rubbing of the eyes can easily lead to eye diseases such as cataracts, glaucoma, and retinal detachment. My poor eyesight is due to overexertion when I was young. So, unless absolutely necessary, be cautious and don't use it lightly! Not until your body enters the Bone Forging stage will you be able to wield this technique with ease, but you won't be entering that stage anyway, so just don't use it casually!'"

  Through my father's eyes, I saw that my own eyes also had a faint blue glow, and with my father's guidance in my mind, I quickly grasped this method of reading minds. The feeling of igniting the blue light was like the spark of an old tractor engine, and by the time I ignited the blue light, my eyes were scorching hot enough to roast potatoes directly! As my gaze turned towards my father, a platform for mental communication was established, and the scene at that moment also froze into a frame of me and my father staring deeply into each other's eyes. Come to think of it, this scene is quite eerie too.

  This mind-reading skill that sounds so cool actually has an expiration date and side effects, what's the point of having it?!