Chapter 1130: Ten Thousand Curses Ward
Li Luo"s face turned ugly when he saw the sudden change to the trio. Clearly, their transformation must have been the work of the curses that they were forced to drink earlier.
"d.a.m.n it!" Li Luo yelled. He activated his wood resonant power, and green vines extended from his fingertips and wrapped around the human skin lanterns that Lu Ming and the rest had transformed into. This prevented them from flying away.
Li Luo shouted at them a few times, but there was no response. Their eyes were still open, but they had turned completely black now. Their minds were clearly lost in something and they had fallen into a deep slumber.
"Will they recover if I pop their skins?" Li Luo"s eyes flashed. Thorns began to appear on his vines as he tried to save them by breaking their skins apart.
Just as he was about to do it, a voice suddenly came from the back. "Li Luo, hold on!"
Li Luo was shocked to suddenly hear someone. He turned around in a hurry and looked over carefully.
In the street behind him was a slender figure with extremely eye-catching, crimson hair, giving off a captivating and cool look.
It was Li Hongyou!
"Senior Hongyou?" Li Luo did not relax just because Li Hongyou had arrived. Instead, he tightened his grip on the Dragon Elephant Blade.
It was best to keep his guard up against everyone he came across. After all, the All-Beings Devil King was skilled in manipulating human skins and could also feign the appearances of others.
Li Hongyou sensed that Li Luo"s guard was up, so she did not continue moving closer. She paused a few dozen feet away from him and slowly said, "Don"t break the human skins apart. Otherwise, the corruption will spread and even infect their flesh. The situation will become much more dire in that case."
Li Luo frowned. "How do you know they"ve been cursed?"
Li Hongyou lifted her slender fingers and pointed to the sky in the distance. "Look."
He looked over with the corners of his eyes. His face turned solemn immediately. Numerous round lanterns were floating in the air just a small distance away. Each of them had a human head on top.
It was just like Lu Ming and the rest!
In fact, Li Luo found some familiar faces amongst the lanterns. They were the students from the other teams!
It seemed like Lu Ming and the group weren"t the only ones that had fallen to the curse!
It was a truly horrifying to see so many human lanterns drifting in the skies above the city.
"They fell for it as well?" Li Luo asked. His face was slightly twisted.
Li Hongyou nodded and replied, "We fell under the influence of an illusionary realm ward as soon as we stepped onto the bridge. Everyone went through different experiences, but the result is the same. Many were cursed, and this is the result."
She lightly brushed her long, crimson hair with her fingers, and an enchanting fragrance floated into Li Luo"s nose. The frustration and impatience in his heart that had stemmed from allowing Lu Ming and the group to be cursed gradually dissipated.
"The Others are unable to replicate my Crimson Heart fragrance. Do not panic. In a place full of corruption, we need to keep the negative emotions in our hearts in check. If we don"t, they"ll find a chance to exploit it and corrupt us."
As he breathed in the familiar fragrance, Li Luo"s grip slowly loosened. Like Li Hongyou had said, the Others could mimic her appearance, but they would not be able to utilize her abilities like this fragrance that calmed one"s heart.
Seeing this, Li Hongyou walked towards him. She stared at him and asked in surprise, "Looking at you, it seems like you"re fine. Almost all of the unlucky True Seal-grade students that I saw along the way here had been cursed."
Li Luo sighed. "If not for their help, I would have fallen for it too."
If Lu Ming and the rest had not taken the initiative to test the waters by drinking the three bowls of cursed tea, he probably wouldn"t have thought about the trick with the old lady.
Li Hongyou nodded slightly and consoled him. "Don"t worry too much. They"re just cursed. It"s not like they"re dead."
"How can we remove the curse? Use light resonant energy to purify them?" Li Luo asked.
"Ordinary purification will not work. This curse has an origin. It was created by the ward that has enveloped the whole city. Most likely, this is a ploy of the All-Beings Devil King. It probably wants to use this ward to stop us from approaching the Ten Thousand Skin Devil Heart Pillar. So our main priority now is to destroy this d.a.m.ned ward. We can only approach the heart of the city after destroying it. At the same time, all the people that have been cursed will recover," Li Hongyou explained.
Li Luo was puzzled. "How do we destroy it?"
Li Hongyou pointed to the back of her hand. "Look at your Ancient Spirit Leaf."
Hearing this, Li Luo focused his mind and sensed the Ancient Spirit Leaf on his hand. Suddenly, he could feel countless messages flowing into his head.
"Ten Thousand Curses Ward. A creation of the All-Being Ghostly Skin Dominion. It contains an extremely strong curse used by the All-Beings Devil King to protect the Devil Heart Pillar. To destroy the ward, you"ll have to destroy the Omnidirectional Soul Summoning Altars. Once the ward is destroyed, the curse will naturally be lifted."
At this point, light rays shot out of his Ancient Spirit Leaf. They weaved into a map of the city. There were four red dots blinking on the map, each one on a corner of the city. These were the locations of the so-called Omnidirectional Soul Summoning Altars.
"The news sure came late," Li Luo commented helplessly. If they had learned about the Ten Thousand Curses Ward before stepping into the city, they would not have stepped in so recklessly. In the end, they had sacrificed their team members for nothing. Fortunately, their team members had not lost their lives.
"There was no other choice. The Ancient Spirit Leaves need to use us as mediums to study the surroundings. After collecting a suitable amount of information, it is sent back for further a.n.a.lysis, and any useful info is then relayed to us," Li Hongyou explained.
In the end, the students had to investigate the situation before anything else could be done.
Li Luo pondered for a moment. "I a.s.sume the Heavenly Star Hall students had no problem escaping the illusionary realm. Once they receive this info, they"ll proceed to attack the nearest altar. If we move accordingly, we should be able to regroup with the rest. What do you think, Senior Hongyou?"
Li Hongyou took a glance at him with her cold eyes. "It"s up to you. After all, I"ll be depending on you rather than the college in the future. It does not matter if the mission fails. The most important thing is to keep you safe. I will try my best to stick with you, and if things turn sour, I"ll escape with you immediately."
Her face did not reveal much emotion, but her eyes had turned serious. She was clearly not joking around with Li Luo.
Li Luo did not know how to respond to her frank words.
"Let"s go. We will head towards the nearest Soul Summoning Altar," Li Luo said after studying the map from the Ancient Spirit Leaf. He then turned to the right and walked in that direction.
At the same time, he took another look at Lu Ming and the rest, who were floating in the sky as human skin lanterns. He whispered to himself, "Don"t worry. I will definitely break the curse and save all of you."
Li Luo and Li Hongyou made their way along the white street, which had a smooth texture to it. Stepping on it felt like they were walking on cold, dead, human skin.
Suddenly, Li Hongyou pulled Li Luo"s arm. The two of them came to a stop immediately.
"Senior Hongyou?"
Li Luo was slightly shocked. He followed Li Hongyou"s gaze and looked ahead. Thick, white mist began to spill out of two shops along the street.
Then the sounds of doors shutting echoed, and red shadows slowly crawled out of the shops, blocking the road in a twisted posture.
Li Luo"s eyes narrowed. The twisted figures had no facial features. There was only a cold "evil" character curved onto each of their faces.
They were once again faced with Evil Spirits!
The creatures had finally appeared in their path again.