C40 All Kinds of Things

As I recalled Old Xu's bloodied and disfigured face, my thoughts immediately turned to my foster father. I remembered the horrific state he was in before his death and the blood that had pooled around him...

The fiery rage and my resolve for vengeance reignited my courage, and I fiercely opened the mysterious Heaven Connecting Secret Technique.

I was too apprehensive to examine it closely, so I just skimmed through a few pages. To my surprise, I discovered that the Heaven Connecting Secret Technique was actually split into two volumes, each containing three books. The content was complex, far from a simple treatise on Daoism.

The first volume of the Heaven Connecting Secret Technique covered divination, Feng Shui, and Mystic Escape Armor, while the second volume included Daoist practices, Talisman Arts, and a variety of other spells, even detailing the arts of cursing, witchcraft, and paper effigies.

The book I held was merely the third of the second volume, filled with those intricate spells. And judging by the text, it seemed to be the least valuable of all six books...

I figured the most precious ones must be the three books of the first volume. My foster father's reputation as the Half Immortal was likely owed to the Heaven Connecting Secret Technique.

"Changsheng, let's head back and check if there are any other books at Old Xu's place," Deaf Zhang suggested. I recalled that when I initially discovered the wooden chest, it contained only this single book.

Yet, I couldn't shake off a sense of dissatisfaction and decided to search Old Xu's room once more. After a thorough search, I found nothing. To my astonishment, I discovered that Old Xu had died, blood oozing from all his orifices...

Deaf Zhang and I returned to the woods, shaken to our core. Now, I was even more uncertain.

Logically, if such an extraordinary book existed, my foster father would have mentioned it before his passing. But he hadn't uttered a word. Could it be that this book was dangerous?

Then again, on second thought, my foster father had expressed his desire for me to grow strong so that I might survive. Perhaps this book was the key to unlocking that strength.

I couldn't help but smile wryly to myself. With less than three years left to live, how much time did I really have to waste on indecision?

I reopened the Heaven Connecting Secret Technique and read through the contents with great attention. Thankfully, the book wasn't written in classical Chinese; each spell was described in plain language.

Whenever I encountered something I didn't understand, Deaf Zhang was right there to help me out. But if my foster father were here, I'm sure I'd be learning even quicker.

Time flew by swiftly, and before I knew it, day had turned to night. I was completely engrossed in the book, captivated by the intricate spells it detailed.

For a young man like me, naive to the ways of the world, this book undoubtedly ushered me into a realm of the supernatural, shattering my former perceptions.

"Changsheng, are you okay?" Deaf Zhang suddenly tapped me on the shoulder, a bottle of mineral water and a slice of bread in his hands.

"I'm fine..." I exhaled deeply, my eyes reluctantly leaving the pages of the book. My excitement was palpable.

"I noticed you've been fixated on that book for a while. I was worried you might lose your mind over it. Here, have some water and something to eat," Deaf Zhang suggested with a chuckle.

I unscrewed the cap and gulped down half the bottle, then took a few bites of the bread. Deaf Zhang looked at me with eager anticipation and asked, "Changsheng, have you found a way to break the curse?"

"I skimmed through the whole book. The Evil Taoist used a life-exchanging curse. The method to break it is quite straightforward, but executing it is another story," I sighed.

"What do you mean?"

"The book states that if you can collect the blood of the cursed individual, you can reverse the spell. But the entire village has fallen victim to this curse; collecting everyone's blood is simply not feasible! Besides, everyone now sees me as a harbinger of bad luck, as if I'm a rat being chased down the streets. If I show my face, I'm sure to be attacked or bound and delivered to the Sunn family estate for a bounty," I explained with a rueful smile.

Deaf Zhang's spirits deflated upon hearing this, but I went on, "However, the book does describe a technique akin to a curse of aversion. The basic steps involve obtaining the target's hair, wrapping it around an ancient coin, and then placing it under the beam of the caster's bedroom. Sigh, finding the coin is easy, and sneaking into the Evil Taoist's room isn't too hard, but getting a hold of his hair? That's the real challenge."

"It's not a given. In fact, I'd say the simplest task is to locate the hair of an Evil Taoist. Hehe..." Deaf Zhang chuckled to himself and pulled a silk pouch from his bag.

He carefully opened the pouch and extracted a strand of black and purple hair.