Chapter 6: The Vengeful Spirits of Resentment and Hatred

  Listening to Cui Mubai's words, the person in front of me had a faint blue glow in his eyes that made me very curious. This self-proclaimed father seemed to be able to see through my thoughts at any time and knew exactly what I was thinking. Moreover, the scorching heat I felt earlier didn't seem so ordinary, and my subconscious told me that I was slowly accepting Cui Mubai's words.

  To keep calm, or at least to pretend to be calm, I stared intently at Choi Mu-baek in front of me, putting on a tough guy act, trying to see what he was up to while feeling if there was anything unusual about my body, thinking "If it's mutation, I'd rather die than yield".

  Looking at me, Cui Mubai didn't show any signs of anger, but instead gave me the feeling that he was like a father looking at his own mischievous and spoiled child throwing a tantrum, not needing to say anything, just waiting, as if after getting angry, they would return to normal.

  As my breathing gradually slowed down and my chest was no longer violently heaving, Cui Mubai continued to say: "Child, it's not that I don't want to see you, but I can't see you! It's not that I don't want to recognize you, but I can't recognize you! If it weren't for your suicidal actions, if I were to see you, I would have killed you. In this world, there isn't a single parent who is willing to personally send their own child to their death, and even more so, no one wants to watch their own child die with their own eyes, regardless of the reason or excuse. It would be like living a life worse than death, it would be like having a constant knot in your stomach, it would be like being tormented by pain that you can't bear. The reason we can't recognize each other is because our family has been suffering from an evil curse called the "Million Souls Curse" for generations, and this curse is the beginning and end of all this.

  "So I must do this, you live in anger, I pass through suffering, this is the most vicious curse of all souls!"

  This eerie scene put me in a state, Cui Mubai's words made my anger slip away thread by thread. I believe even the most awesome actor can't act out such realistic acting skills, every word is pounding at my heart, and every sentence makes me shocked beyond words.

  "As soon as I see you, I will kill you, a curse of ten thousand souls" These few words occupied my entire brain capacity like a ghost, shocking me to suffocation and intriguing me with eeriness.

  Although I'm not clear what these things are, or why they're happening, I finally understand that when a father sends his child away with his own hands in order for the child to survive, all the resentment and anger turn into mist, and tears burst forth. At this moment, I don't know what I can do, so I did nothing. The air seemed to solidify at this moment, no one spoke, it was as quiet as if a needle dropping on the ground could be heard echoing.

  When all the miserable plots I had imagined added up, they didn't have a reason as bizarre and irrefutable as this. As my anger gradually dissipated, I felt like my body was being emptied out, muttering to myself, "What is the curse of ten thousand souls? Why did this thing fall on my head?" Then, I slumped down onto the edge of the bed.

  Choi Mu-bae turned his face to look out the window, and from the refraction of sunlight on his profile, I saw two silent tears fall, tracing two crystal tracks, giving me a kind of inexplicable heartache. The swaying candlelight cast a flickering shadow, making me want to step forward and hug him. The person in front of me was my long-awaited father, my dear father. As the saying goes, "A man has tears but does not easily shed them." I knew what these tears meant for a man, for a father.

  It seems that this thing called the Curse of Ten Thousand Souls has brought an influence to me and even my entire family far beyond my imagination. My mood at this moment is also starting to shift from anger to tension, making a 180-degree turn. I am eager to know what this Curse of Ten Thousand Souls is, where it comes from, and how to eliminate it. Through Choi Mu-baek's words, I vaguely feel that I am the key to unlocking this knot, which makes me even more tense. With my years of experience in failure, the probability of failure is far greater than success, and this is obviously a situation where I can only win and not lose. Can I complete this impossible comeback? I don't know!

  "Kid, what I'm going to tell you now might seem like a legend or even nonsense to many people, but you have to believe me, my brain is not dizzy, not cramped, not watered, and not squeezed by the door!"

  "Because everything I said is true, it's the reason why our family, the Fengdu Chui family, has become what it is today. It's also the reason why a father would personally send his own child to an orphanage. This... is the curse of the Ten Souls!" As I heard this, finally getting the answer I had been waiting for, I clenched my fists tightly, the knuckles on both hands turning white from excessive force due to the reflection of the sunlight.

  "Child, this story begins in the prosperous Tang Dynasty, specifically in the seventh year of Emperor Taizong's reign, a golden age known as the 'Reign of Zhenguan'. Our family, the Cui family, are descendants of Cui Pengju from Fendou, one of the four great judges of the underworld and also known as the judge who ushers souls to their deaths! For generations, our Cui family has lived in Fendou, genuine locals through and through!"

  Ancestor Cui Jue was a renowned figure in the underworld, known for his integrity and fairness as an official. He was said to be able to judge cases with divine accuracy, earning him great praise from the people. There are many legends about him, some true, some false, but he is indeed the "Judge of Life and Death" spoken of in folklore.

  He wore a red robe, with a black hat on his head, and was carried in an eight-man sedan chair. He had a rhinoceros horn around his waist, held a scepter in his hand, and wore a linked armor. His feet were clad in a pair of boots with white soles, as if he could tread on clouds and drive away the mist. He carried a book that determined life and death, and was the nemesis of all evil spirits... responsible for judging the living and the dead after they entered the underworld, rewarding or punishing them according to their good or evil deeds in life, and determining their reincarnation after death. He was as famous as Zhong Kui. Through Cui Mubai's words, I imagined what my ancestors looked like, and indeed they were very majestic.

  "The prosperous Tang Dynasty was also the most flourishing period of Chinese civilization. Emperor Taizong of Tang, the second emperor of this prosperous Tang Dynasty, had an inexplicable connection with my Cui family. Our ancestor Cui Ke served as the county magistrate of Changzi County in Luzhou during the Taizong era, a regular official position, although not high-ranking but a very important government official."

  His ancestors were born with extraordinary talents, and his fate was extremely yin. He walked in the shade like a ghost, entering the realm of no man's land as if it were daylight. From birth, he could handle yang affairs during the day and cut off yin grievances at night, distinguishing between humans and ghosts, surpassing even the gods. He is the leader of the four great judges in Yanluo Wang's palace, also known as the Yangshi Yin Guan (Yang World Yin Official). His identity is roughly equivalent to that of Bao Zheng of the Song Dynasty, both being Yang World Yin Officials.

  During his tenure, the Jiao River Dragon King and Yuan Shoucheng were idle and made a bet, mistakenly walking on the rain cloth, and were beheaded by Wei Zheng, an old minister of Emperor Taizong of Tang. As the saying goes, "wronged souls have their masters", the Jiao River Dragon King wanted Emperor Taizong to repay his life, making it impossible for him to rest day and night. In the end, he contracted a serious illness and died. On the surface, the disease was choking to death from drinking water, but in reality, it was caused by the vengeful spirit demanding his life! Emperor Taizong suddenly passed away and was taken to the Three Courts for trial by the ghostly officials. At that time, it was the famous "Reign of Zhenguan", a prosperous and peaceful era.

  After coughing twice, the father continued: "Good ministers are easy to find, but a wise emperor is hard to come by! A train runs fast because of its locomotive. What if it loses its head? To protect Emperor Taizong of Tang, Prime Minister Wei Zheng entrusted our ancestor Cui Ke with a letter, asking him to ensure the emperor's safe return at all costs. Facing tight deadlines, heavy tasks, limited funds, and high difficulty, our ancestor did not complain, worked hard, and took on the challenge. This time, it was truly a matter of life and death, but fortunately, Emperor Taizong returned safely in the end.

  The family ancestors also used the method of "building a bridge" to secretly add their own twenty years of life to Taizong, in exchange for the appearance of this prosperous Zhen Guan era.

  It can be said that without the ancestors' efforts in making connections, sending gifts, responding cleverly, inviting guests to dinner, and maintaining health, this prosperous Tang Dynasty scene would not have existed. However, what is not mentioned in the legend is that on his way back to the world of the living, Taizong encountered the vengeful spirits of the thousands who died in the 64 places he had swept through and the 72 bandit groups he had eliminated. The countless wronged souls came to demand justice, surrounding him with a multitude of ghosts, making it a perilous escape route. Ancestor Cui Ke came forward again to mediate the dispute, helping Li Shimin spend a large sum of money to bribe insiders and appease the ghosts, allowing Taizong to finally escape. This matter was already known to people, and at this point, it had come to an end. However, behind the prosperity lies a sequel that is not suitable for outsiders to know: the countless wronged souls from the 64 places and 72 bandit groups were blinded by money and quickly squandered their wealth, only to regret it later, wailing in sorrow.

  But at this moment, the Tang king had already returned to the world of the living, separated from the underworld by a distance of ten thousand miles. Moreover, the Tang king possessed the fate of the Azure Dragon, and it seemed that things had reached an irreversible point, with no possibility of revenge. Thus, this group of ghosts who had suffered a thousand cuts redirected their hatred towards my family, the Cui clan. The most poisonous curse in the world, the "Ten Thousand Souls' Curse", was cast upon my family.

  The curse caused the descendants of my family to be unable to find peace or fulfillment, forever trapped in a state of melancholy and despair. They would see the King of Hell, and their souls would be devoured by the Ten Thousand Souls, until they were left with nothing but a desiccated corpse, their spirits scattered and lost, never to reincarnate.

  As Cui Mubai spoke, he paused for a long time. Before my eyes, it seemed as if a vast, rolling smoke appeared, accompanied by the sound of wailing ghosts. A group of ferocious, starving spirits with twisted expressions rushed towards me, their faces contorted in a mixture of rage and despair. The scene was absolutely stunning, like a blockbuster production that had invested billions!

  Memories made Choi Mu-baek's tone tremble with a sob, "Child, I know every bit of what you've been through, but everything isn't as you think. I abandoned you, and you must believe that there is no parent in this world who doesn't love their child, willing to try the pain of separation! My sorrow will only be more than yours, never less. But this is fate!"

  The fate of a father who cannot recognize his own child! At least you don't know, at least you can live with anger, but I can't, because I know, so I can only gaze from afar, watching, waiting, and longing for a miracle to happen! Although the Cui family is now wealthy, they stood by and watched as you suffered the most pain, this pain is indescribable, it's like being tortured. I couldn't bear to listen anymore, "Dad" looking at Cui Mubai's face, which was like a candle in the wind, with tears streaming down, I blurted out the cry that had been suppressed in my heart for over 20 years, and tightly hugged him, with tears streaming down.