The Curse Master

Inside the cage, the Arsonist was already dumbfounded.

Yue Shi was now his ally, but he hadn't expected this ally's strength to be so formidable.

No wonder.

He had previously transformed into an overpass fortune-teller and performed a divination for himself. It had precisely calculated that his only chance for revenge was today; if he missed today, he would never have another opportunity.

After today, the entirety of Lab 0 would be destroyed by Yue Shi.

If he wanted revenge, he would never find his targets again.

At this moment, Yue Shi's gaze locked onto the trembling, hunched-back old man. The smile on his face grew more brilliant and more dangerous.

"Old geezer, now it's your turn."

The hunched-back old man stood dazed, his clouded eyes reflecting the hellish scene in the corridor.

The floor was covered in fragments of corpses shredded by spatial rifts, and thick blood had pooled into small streams.

Blood flowed slowly along the seams of the metal floor. The intense, nauseating stench of iron filled every inch of the air.

His body shook uncontrollably, and his teeth chattered.

This extreme terror did not stem solely from Yue Shi's violent slaughter of hundreds of people with a wave of his hand.

On a deeper level, what chilled him even more was that Yue Shi had escaped the Curse Master's imprisonment cage so easily.

The Curse Master was the laboratory's deepest hidden power, considered their final trump card—one that even the Bureau headquarters was wary of.

And the Curse Master's power had been broken just like that?

In a way he couldn't understand at all?

Because of his sheer horror, the wrinkles on the old man's face twisted together like a shriveled walnut. His mouth hung open wide enough to fit an egg, looking completely unable to accept reality.

After what felt like a century, he finally managed to turn his stiff neck toward Yue Shi.

Yue Shi stood in the pool of blood, his eyes deep and calm.

To him, that bloody massacre was nothing more than brushing away a bit of frost.

He lifted a foot and took a step.

Clack, clack, clack.

The sound of soles stepping on thick blood and the smooth floor was exceptionally clear and piercing in the silence.

Step by step, Yue Shi walked unhurriedly toward the hunched-back old man.

Like a frog stared down by a venomous snake, the old man clutched the two dark red beads in his hand in terror.

He backed away, stumbling, until his back hit the wall that had been deformed by fire. The heat scorched him, but he had nowhere left to retreat.

"Don't come any closer!" the old man shrieked with false bravado, hiding the beads behind his back. They were his final protective charms.

Yue Shi ignored his wails and stopped five paces away from him.

Just as Yue Shi was about to strike and finish the old man off...

The shadow behind the old man suddenly began to writhe and boil violently, as if it had gained a life of its own.

An aura far colder and filthier than the previous black chains instantly permeated the room!

Immediately after, an eerie figure slowly emerged from that deep shadow.

It could barely be called a person.

The figure was withered and small, like a corpse that had been air-dried for many years.

The entire body was wrapped in layers of old, tattered black bandages, with not a single patch of skin exposed.

The bandages were wrapped so tightly that even the outlines of the fingers were blurred; only the area for the eyes was left open.

But he had no eyes—only two empty sockets. Within those deep, dark hollows seemed to lie endless pain and despair. Simply making eye contact was enough to feel an overwhelming wave of negative emotions.

Like a mummy crawling out of an ancient tomb, he stood there quietly, radiating immense terror.

The Insight vision at the center of Yue Shi's forehead opened. A pale gold light flickered as it scanned the strange entity, capturing its core information.

【Curse Aggregate】: Essentially a being that is neither alive nor dead, formed by the forced merging and binding of countless powerful curses and grudges. It is a manifestation of the concept of "Curse."

It possesses the following abilities:

【"Curse Source": Can freely cast, control, dispel, or enhance any known curse.】

【"Curse Absorption/Immunity": Can absorb curses directed at itself to use for its own power and is immune to all curse-type abilities.】

【"Virtual-Real Transformation": Can freely transform between a physical entity and a pure curse energy body to evade physical attacks.】

【"Curse Creation": Can condense the power of curses into physical or ethereal creations with various effects.】

【"Earthbound": The Curse Aggregate is bound to its place of birth and cannot leave it.】

Yue Shi understood instantly. No wonder this Curse Master had been hiding his head and showing his tail, refusing to come out and kill the intruders immediately.

He had only appeared now that the laboratory had been turned upside down and the hunched-back old man was about to be killed.

It turned out the Curse Master had a massive weakness: "Earthbound."

He could only exist at his place of birth.

The place of birth for this Curse Aggregate was certainly not Lab 0.

As for why he was here and under the control of the lab executives...

Yue Shi's gaze shifted to the two dark red beads in the old man's hand.

【Record Bead: "Engraving"】

【Replication Bead: "Reflection"】

What a damn good treasure~

Even an abstract "location" could be recorded.

Hmph, this dead old man actually dared to steal my, Yue Shi's, things. How despicable!

He had to be killed!

Once he took back those two beads and canceled their effects, the "place of birth" replicated by the beads would disappear.

The Curse Master himself would be unable to sustain his presence here and would presumably return to his true place of birth.

"Kill him! Kill him now!" The hunched-back old man screamed his command, seeing the Curse Master as his life-saving straw.

The Curse Master's empty sockets looked toward Yue Shi. Without any warning, he raised a withered arm wrapped in bandages and pointed.

Instant death curse, pain curse, soul tearing curse, flesh disintegration art...

Several invisible and intangible curses, each powerful enough to instantly kill a Rank 4 transcendent, descended upon Yue Shi like invisible poisoned arrows crossing through space.

Layers upon layers of demon feathers wrapped around Yue Shi.

Immediately after, countless demon feathers withered and shattered as barrier after barrier was broken.

If it were any other transcendent, even a Rank 4, they would likely have been killed or crippled under this series of curse attacks.

The third eye at the center of Yue Shi's forehead opened fully. It was no longer just a golden vertical mark, but a complete vertical pupil.

The originally invisible curses became visible entities in his vision.

His body swayed slightly as he tanked the first wave of attacks.

"Troublesome indeed."

Yue Shi's expression remained unchanged; he didn't feel much tension.

"Die."

He attempted to activate Death Sentence.

The instant death curse was like a mud cow entering the sea when it touched the Curse Master; it was directly absorbed, causing the aura around him to solidify slightly.

Curse-type abilities were indeed completely ineffective against this guy.

In the next second, spatial rifts opened and closed around the Curse Master, twisting and folding space.

However, the Curse Master's figure flickered between reality and illusion. The spatial rifts often only swallowed the afterimages he left behind or were forcibly stitched back together by the curse chains he condensed.

He possessed extremely high resistance to physical attacks, was immune to curses, and was difficult to banish.

Could he only be eternally trapped with Labyrinth?

Yue Shi was somewhat unwilling to let him go without killing him on the spot.

The Curse Master continued to cast an endless stream of malicious curses, while Yue Shi constantly shifted positions, looking for an opportunity to attack the hunched-back old man.

He would take back what belonged to him first.

The Curse Master prioritized the old man's safety. Although his attacks were fierce, he never strayed too far from the old man.

The black curse chains circled the old man, forming a protection that would never give Yue Shi an easy opening.

Furthermore, the old man himself was not a weakling with zero power.

The battle grew increasingly intense. The entire punishment room and the corridor outside were reduced to ruins under the aftershocks of their confrontation. The walls were covered in black marks from curse erosion and gashes from spatial cutting.

Seeing the stalemate and having Yue Shi nearly strike him in the face several times, the old man's heart filled with growing fear.

After tanking another claw strike from Yue Shi, the old man no longer cared about his dignity and shrieked at the Curse Master:

"Stop fighting! Stop fighting for now! Take me out of here first!"

Meanwhile, the Arsonist, still trapped in the black cage whose chains could not be burned through, grew visibly agitated. He roared at Yue Shi, "Hey! Let me out! I'll help you deal with them!"

The Curse Master was absolutely obedient to the old man's orders.

His empty sockets looked at Yue Shi once more as he rapidly retracted his aggression.

Then, thicker chains emerged from the gaps in the black bandages wrapped around his body. They gently coiled around the hunched-back old man and immediately began to flee outward.

The few people who had been surrounding the area and luckily survived Yue Shi's first wave of slaughter had also been keeping a low profile, and they now tried to slip away quietly.

"Don't just stand there! Chase them! Don't let them get away!" the Arsonist shouted from inside the cage, his flaming body churning as he urged Yue Shi.

But Yue Shi stood in place, unhurried. He turned to look at the anxious Arsonist in the cage, ignoring his cries.

With a flash, he teleported directly inside the cage and reached out to grab the teddy bear possessed by Ghost.

In the next instant, he took Ghost and teleported again, appearing outside the cage.

The two of them huddled together, exchanging a few whispered words.

The entire process was seamless. The cage left by the Curse Master did not weaken in the slightest, yet it was like nothing to Yue Shi.

Seeing this, the Arsonist froze, the giant face formed of fire showing an expression of shock. "You?"

He wanted to ask why Yue Shi only took Ghost and not him, and why Yue Shi wasn't giving chase.

But before he could speak, the figures of the Curse Master and the hunched-back old man reappeared in the punishment room, looking quite pathetic.

The old man's face was bloodless, filled with panic and disbelief.

The Curse Master's empty sockets seemed to grow a few shades darker.

The space leading to the outside had been completely shredded and scrambled, reorganized into an infinitely complex and ever-changing giant Labyrinth.

They had tried several directions just now, but the result was always the same. No matter which way they fled, they would inexplicably return to the starting point—this bloody punishment room.

Yue Shi looked at the two who had been forced back, a malicious smile appearing on his face. "Today, no one leaves this place!"

The old man's clouded triangular eyes stared at Yue Shi. "You insist on fighting me to the bitter end?"

Yue Shi sneered in mockery. "To the bitter end? Are you even worthy?"

"The entirety of Lab 0, from the inside out, has been completely sealed off by me. Those outside cannot enter, and those inside should not dream of leaving. I have plenty of time to play with you."

"Bit by bit, I will grind you to death."

The old man's expression changed drastically as a thought flashed into his mind. He blurted out, "It's that thing! You really took that thing? Otherwise, it would be impossible for you to master such terrifying spatial power in such a short time!"

The lab executives had long suspected it; now it was merely confirmed.

Yue Shi knew what he was talking about—the illusory thread, the Bridge that had been used as a sacrifice.

"Only realizing that now? You really are as stupid as a pig."

As the words fell, there was no more idle talk. The battle erupted again.

This time, Yue Shi's tactical objective was extremely clear. He went all out, concentrating his attacks on the hunched-back old man.

He no longer engaged in excessive entanglement with the Curse Master, instead constantly fine-tuning the spatial structure around the old geezer, making him stumble and unable to dodge effectively.

Although the old man was aged, the beads in his hand flashed, frequently refreshing his physical state to keep him at his peak.

However, the pressure of this high-intensity passive defense did not rest solely on him.

The Curse Master was forced into a disadvantage.

He had to split his attention.

On one hand, he had to continuously cast various curses to interfere with Yue Shi and delay his offensive.

On the other hand, he had to maintain close protection of the old man at all times.

Yue Shi keenly captured the decline in the Curse Master's state—a tiny opening exposed because he was overly focused on the old man's safety.

Now!

A roll of old, yellowed linen cloth, stained with large patches of dried, blackened blood, fell from the sky.

The Blood-stained Shroud!

The shroud possessed immense curse resistance. It unfurled in the air with a clatter, carrying a sense of twilight and death as it draped down over the Curse Master's head.

The Curse Master's empty sockets flickered slightly. That piece of cloth made him feel a sense of repulsion, like a pile of shit.

Sizzle!

The moment the shroud touched the Curse Master, the dried black blood on it came to life, seeping and spreading into the Curse Master's body.

The Curse Master's movements instantly stiffened.

The Blood-stained Shroud turned black and rotted at a visible speed; it was clearly unable to bind the Curse Master for long.

The stiffened state would perhaps only last for a moment.

But for Yue Shi and Ghost, a moment was enough.

Almost at the same time the shroud covered the Curse Master...

Ghost detached from the teddy bear and charged straight at the panicked old man.

Biological Possession!

The old man only felt his brain buzz.

Ghost's possession met powerful resistance and only interfered with the old man for less than a second before being repelled and ejected.

The possession failed.

But that brief second of interference was enough to throw the old man's consciousness into chaos, causing the beads in his hand to stop flashing.

In a flash, Yue Shi had already teleported to the old man's side.

He did not attack the old man's vitals but instead grabbed the arm that was clutching the beads.

Crack!!!"

"Aaaagh!"

The crisp sound of bones and flesh being forcibly torn and broken mixed with the old man's sudden, shrill scream.

Yue Shi had actually ripped the old man's entire right arm clean off!

Blood surged.

The two dark red beads fell into Yue Shi's hand together.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye.

From the shroud falling to Ghost's possession interference to Yue Shi's violent strike, the entire process was extremely fast, with every link perfectly synchronized.

"A bright pearl covered in dust—now it has finally been returned to its rightful owner." Yue Shi fiddled with the beads in his hand, smiling radiantly.

The hunched-back old man, who was screaming and collapsing, froze for a moment.

Returned to its rightful owner?

Listen to what you're saying!

Blood gushed from the severed arm. The intense pain and the loss of life caused the old man to lose his ability to move; he was completely finished.

On the other side, the shroud could not withstand the Curse Master's backlash and turned to ash with a rip.

The Curse Master, having broken free, did not launch a counterattack, nor did he look at the dying old man.

His empty sockets rarely showed a clear emotion.

It was disgust.

To him, that shroud really was a pile of shit—and the kind that was watery and smeared into a thin film at that.

It had seeped into his body.

It hadn't caused actual damage, but it had indeed controlled him.

"I remember you," the Curse Master spoke for the first time, his voice hoarse.

The dark red beads flashed in Yue Shi's hand. "I remember you too. I couldn't kill you this time, but the next time we meet, it might just be the day you die."

The Curse Master flickered like a poor-quality image.

Then, he was forcibly dragged away by a power that pierced through time and space.