Chapter 46: Calamity and Curse

Looking at Wu Chang walking out of the shadows, Liu Shan's face turned ashen.

Wu Chang shrugged and said, "I told you this was a key point, and it would be on the exam when we meet again. Let me ask you one more time, how should a villain laugh?"

Liu Shan laughed stiffly, "Hahaha?"

"Wrong! It's Hehehehe. Grandpaw, how old are you this year?"

"Sixty-four," Liu Shan replied instinctively.

"You should never stop learning as long as you live. Besides, at your age, you wouldn't even be retired in our time. Giving up on learning and self-improvement and lying flat at such a young age, yet you still have the nerve to come out and play the villain."

Wu Chang shook his head in disappointment, then said, "It's getting late. Be on your way now, and you might still catch up with your second-in-command. But before you go, I have one last question for you."

"Tell me, you guys are clearly mountain bandits, so why did you play the role of villagers so naturally, without a shred of guilt, fooling even me?"

Mentioning this doubt stirred Liu Shan's lifeless expression.

He looked at Wu Chang and said resentfully, "Because we wanted to forget everything and start over!"

"The imperial court is corrupt, treacherous officials hold power, and local aristocratic families control everything, seizing vast amounts of land and ignoring our lives! We only turned to banditry to have a bite to eat!"

"We had no choice before, but now we just wanted to hide in the mountains and go back to being ordinary villagers. Why couldn't you just let us go?"

Wu Chang lowered his gaze, took a deep breath, and said, "Alright, why don't you go tell that to the villagers of Huaijiu Village buried in the cavern, and see if they'll let you go back to being ordinary villagers."

Hearing Wu Chang's words, Liu Shan's mental defense completely collapsed.

"They are evil spirits! They are demons! You come from a prestigious sect and claim to be a hero, yet instead of siding with your fellow humans, you speak for demons! How can you face your sect? How can you face the common people of the world!"

Wu Chang pursed his lips with a solemn expression, as if enduring severe torture of the soul and moral condemnation.

"I..."

With a snort, he couldn't hold back his laughter.

"Actually, I was lying to you. I'm neither from a prestigious sect, nor am I any hero."

With that, taking advantage of the moment when Liu Shan was most terrified and furious, he blew a hole through Liu Shan's head with a shot.

Huu.

Wu Chang let out a long breath. As an old veteran gamer, he had finally settled the score.

He picked up the Four-Directions Age-Expelling Lamp beside Liu Shan, and a prompt popped up on the lamp.

[Remaining lamp oil burn time: 7,200 seconds.]

He poured the remaining lamp oil from the burnt-out fog demon into it as well, making a total of 8,000 seconds.

"That should be more than enough time."

He turned and looked into the distance toward Huaijiu Village, where he could hear screams and cries carried by the wind.

Wu Chang was kind-hearted and couldn't bear to watch demons slaughter humans, even if those people were blood-stained mountain bandits.

So he walked far away from Huaijiu Village, hiding in a place where the screams could no longer be heard.

He found a wind-sheltered spot by the mountain path, lit a bonfire, and pulled out a lamb leg.

Earlier, taking advantage of the chaos, he had swiped the sacrificial offerings prepared by Liu Shan and his crew for the Age-Expelling Ceremony, and now it would make a fine barbecue.

As the lamb leg browned, its surface turning golden with a hint of charred brown, and coated with his homemade sauce, the rich aroma of the roasted meat was fully released.

Just as he was about to dig in, his vision blurred, and in a trance, he saw the scene within the evil spirit's bloody resentment once again.

The scene began, as before, with the villagers of Huaijiu Village laboring peacefully in the valley, the atmosphere serene and content.

Only this time, the ones entering the valley were not the Black Mountain bandits, but himself.

He rode his horse through the valley, and whether it was villagers sowing seeds, villagers hurrying home with buckets of water, or children playing and frolicking, everyone he met paused what they were doing and bowed to him.

"Many thanks, Hero Wu."

"Many thanks, Hero Wu."

"Many thanks, Hero Wu."

...

As all the villagers of Huaijiu Village bowed to him one by one, the scene in his eyes shattered. Regaining his senses, he felt something new added to his mind.

He looked toward Huaijiu Village and noticed that all movement had ceased over there. The sea of blood-red clouds that had hung in the sky was now completely gone.

Everything was finally over; the resentment of the evil spirit had dissipated, and the reward for delivering the resentment had arrived.

Superintending the evil spirit had granted him one point of Vitality, one point of Energy, two points of Inspiration, and one point of Willpower.

Aside from the inherent attribute rewards, the deliverance had also bestowed upon him a talent skill.

[Skill Name: Bane]

[Skill Grade: B]

[Skill Summary: Upon activating this skill, the user enters the Bane state. In the Bane state, the user transforms into a spiritual entity, directly assaulting the target's soul. If the sum of the target's Inspiration and Willpower attributes is lower than 80% of the user's combined attributes, one of the following will be randomly triggered: "Plague Infliction," "Calamity Invitation," or "Specter Descent." If lower than 50%, two will be randomly triggered. If lower than 20%, all will be triggered, along with an additional special state.]

[Plague Infliction: When a target is affected by Plague Infliction, they will randomly contract 1 to 5 major illnesses. The lower the current vitality, the more severe the symptoms; the greater the difference in Inspiration attributes between the target and the user, the more types of diseases.]

[Calamity Invitation: When a target is affected by Calamity Invitation, they will continuously suffer from accidents, things going unfavorably, and frequent mishaps. The effect depends on the difference in Inspiration attributes between the target and the user.]

[Specter Descent: When a target is affected by Specter Descent, they will experience hallucinations and mental shocks. The effect depends on the difference in Inspiration attributes between the target and the user.]

Wu Chang never expected that completing a bloody last words task in a C-grade instance could actually yield a B-grade skill.

And such a powerful B-grade skill at that.

From the skill description, it was easy to see that the Bane skill essentially allowed him to transform into an evil spirit, possessing all the various abilities of one.

Having witnessed the terrifying effects of Plague Infliction, Calamity Invitation, and Specter Descent controlled by evil-spirit energy, he knew how formidable they were.

In a duel between masters of the same level, one's physical and mental state could decide victory or defeat, let alone such massive interference.

Imagine two people dueling, and one of them literally suffers a sudden severe illness, unable to cope even with minor afflictions like appendicitis or sudden diarrhea.

Not only that, but the greatest strength of the Bane skill lay in the fact that its triggers were all related to the Inspiration and Willpower attributes.

He hadn't been in the Abyss Game for long, and he lacked many attributes, but the only things he didn't lack were Inspiration and Willpower.

Ninety points of Inspiration and sixty-four points of Willpower guaranteed that whenever he cast the curse, it would hit every single time.

Just as he was about to study the Bane skill further, the sound of horse hooves came from afar.

To be precise, donkey hooves.

Taoist Priest Chiyuan could be seen riding a small black donkey as he hurried over.

Wu Chang tore off a piece of the lamb leg and asked, "Taoist Priest Chiyuan, care for a bite?"

Chiyuan was full of surprise to see Wu Chang barbecuing by the roadside. "Hero Wu certainly has fine tastes."

Wu Chang smiled and asked, "Taoist Priest, ignoring the dangers to travel overnight like this, where are you headed?"

"I just finished dealing with the escaping Mountain-Blocking Ghost and was planning to head toward Huaijiu Village. On the way, I sensed monstrous demonic energy and a pervasive murderous aura here, so I rushed over to see what happened in the village."

Wu Chang held up the lamb leg and sighed mournfully, "Alas, during the Age-Expelling Ceremony, several wild demonic entities attacked Huaijiu Village. The villagers fought back valiantly, but the demons were too ferocious, and the entire village was brutally slaughtered."

Chiyuan's face turned pale, and he muttered like a soul out of body, "How could such a tragic thing happen!"

Wu Chang took a bite of the lamb leg and asked, "Tragic?"

"Why would Hero Wu say such a thing? The entire village slaughtered by demons, how is this not tragic!" Chiyuan barked angrily.

Wu Chang blinked, wearing a troubled expression.

"I thought it was a joyous occasion, and I was just about to congratulate the Taoist Priest on getting his bitter revenge."