No one expected something like this to happen.
They had explored this place many times, and they had already confirmed that there were no threats here.
They had never expected a curse to appear so suddenly.
A formless tentacle stretched out and slammed towards Chen Rou.
A formless energy covered and locked on to her.
It seemed that this curse"s target was Chen Rou from the start.
Seeing this, Chen Rou"s pupils constricted as she felt an immense sense of danger.
This curse was extremely powerful, and from their standards, it could be counted to be a high-level curse.
A high-level curse was quite powerful and could rival a Cursed Item.
In the crucial moment, Chen Rou leaned backwards, and at the same time, a ghost-faced mask appeared, blocking in front of her.
The ghost-faced mask was extremely strange and there seemed to be human figures on it, giving off different expressions.
Sensing the terrifying attack, trails of b.l.o.o.d.y tears flowed out from the ghost-face mask, dripping onto the ground.
Following this, the surroundings changed.
A black fog turned into a barrier and blocked in front of Chen Rou as a savage face appeared and rushed forwards.
Following this, dense energy surged forwards like a tsunami.
The barrier created by the ghost-faced mask was quickly destroyed.
Chen Rou"s face was extremely pale as a faint black aura appeared.
"The Cursed Item has been destroyed!"
By the side, Yang Cheng gritted his teeth, feeling quite shocked.
Cursed Items were the crystallization of curse energy, and they were unique existences.
Using such things, even ordinary people would be able to obtain great power.
As a government official, the Cursed Item that Chen Rou brought with her was quite famous and very powerful.
However, right after it had been unleashed, it had been directly destroyed.
Yang Cheng"s face became pale and thought of many things.
However, he reacted quickly and immediately spun as he stretched out his arm, blocking off that tentacle.
His body quickly changed as many scales appeared on the surface of his body.
His aura also greatly changed, containing the aura of curse energy.
At this point, he wanted to go up and buy some time for Chen Rou.
However, in the darkness, the unknown curse within ignored this and stretched out its hand.
Mountain-toppling energy rushed out, slamming into Yang Cheng"s body and pus.h.i.+ng him away.
A suppression originating from a higher level appeared.
Sensing this aura, the bodies of everyone present froze.
Everyone here was a Curse Bearer.
The so-called Curse Bearers had taken in Curse Seeds within them, causing them to fuse with a curse.
The Curse Seeds allowed them to gain power to resist curses, but it also caused them to be on the backfoot in this situation.
Facing a higher-level curse, the Curse Seed in their bodies were immediately suppressed, causing them to freeze up.
As such, no one was able to block this attack for Chen Rou.
"d.a.m.nit!"
The ma.s.sive tentacle was coming closer and closer.
Seeing this scene, Chen Rou"s pupils constricted and thought of many things.
It was like how people said that before dying, one would see their life flash before their eyes—this was what was going on in Chen Rou"s mind at the moment.
The curse moved incredibly quickly—the ma.s.sive tentacle shot at her, looking like it was going to squeeze her to death.
Even Chen Rou did not feel that she would survive this.
It was at that time, another energy appeared.
A faint light s.h.i.+ned out.
In the dim surroundings, the light was quite faint, but it was also quite eye-catching.
In front of Chen Rou"s chest, as if it sensed the danger, the golden pendant s.h.i.+ned with light and unleashed its own energy.
The procedure that Chen Heng had set up began to activate.
Ma.s.sive amounts of energy swept out like a sea or volcano was roaring.
Boom!
A light sound rang out as the curse energy in front of her disappeared.
It was like fog encountering sunlight as the black fog in the surroundings quickly melted.
Following this, the heavy darkness in the surroundings also began to disappear.
Soft sounds came from ahead, and Yang Cheng instinctively looked forwards.
Over there, a new curse had appeared and was revealed to them.
However, this curse looked different to before.
Its body was frozen and was melting under that light.
"Arghhh!!" a sharp howl sounded from ahead.
Following this, the curse completely fell apart and disappeared.
After this happened, everything settled down.
Seeing this, everyone calmed down.
At that moment, all of their gazes were on Chen Rou.
More specifically speaking, on the golden pendant.
"What is that?"
"Is it a Cursed Item?"
Looking at the golden pendant, everyone looked quite hesitant and confused.
This made sense—after all, the golden pendant was completely different to how Cursed Items normally looked.
Because Cursed Items were constantly corroded by curse energy, they usually seemed dark and sinister.
However, this golden pendant seemed bright and resplendent.
The light was incredibly pure, and it gave off a soul-cleansing energy. Just looking at it and being covered by the light, one could not help but feel moved.
This existence seemed incredibly holy and like a legendary holy item.
"This thing…"
Looking at the pendant, Yang Cheng and Liang Xiao"s expressions changed, "Why does it seem so familiar…"
It was more than that—it was the pendant that they had given away.
After obtaining this Cursed Item from them, Chen Heng had used his divine energy to refine and transform it.
After being modified by his divine energy, even though it had greatly changed, on the surface, the only change was the color.
As such, they felt that it was extremely familiar.
Standing there, they looked at each other and could sense that there was something strange going on.
Two supernatural items that were exactly the same.
It was a bit too much to be a coincidence.
It was more likely that they were the same item.
As for why that Cursed Item would become like this…
It was most likely because of the person who had this item before.
At that moment, Yang Cheng and Liang Xiao knew that it was most likely because of Chen Heng.
From the power that Chen Heng had displayed, he most likely had the ability to do such a thing.
The only thing that they were confused about was why Chen Heng had done this.
Why had he modified the Cursed Item, and why had he given it to Chen Rou?
What was the relations.h.i.+p between them?
All kinds of thoughts flashed in their mind.
At that moment, someone else spoke.
"Captain…"
An elder looked at Chen Rou and her golden pendant giving off light, and he asked with a fiery gaze, "What is that pendant? Is it a Cursed Item?"
Everyone here was a Curse Bearer, and they were all struck by this golden pendant.
To them, the golden pendant was like a small sun and contained immense power.
As the light s.h.i.+ned on their bodies, their curse energy quickly melted.
Even some people who were beginning to collapse because of the curse energy began to recover and maintained their consciousness.
This was not an effect an ordinary Cursed Item could have.
A holy item.
That was what everyone guessed that this pendant was.
To them, anything that could banish curses and cleanse curse energy was undoubtedly a Holy Item.
This light was holy and resplendent, and it gave the Curse Bearers a unique feeling.
"What a good item…"
Many people looked at the golden pendant with burning gazes.
If it wasn"t for the situation they were in, as well as Chen Rou"s status, some may have tried to take it from her.
"Keep an eye on the surroundings…" Chen Rou coldly spoke, not explaining anything.
She was also quite shaken by what had happened with the golden pendant.
She did not understand this power, nor did she know where it had come from.
This was not the time to explain.
If she blindly showed her confusion, it would only provoke the greed of these people.
If she could successfully make it out, she would ask Chen Heng about it.
What was important right now was the power that this item brought.
"The path ahead… seems to have been opened…"
Standing by the side, Liang Xiao looked ahead and stared.
As he said this, everyone else looked over.
That area was filled with deep, black fog, but there was a thin trace of golden light, opening up a path.
In the distance, they could see images of a city.
The city had turned into ruins and seemed incredibly clear.
However, all around the city, black fog completely covered it.
"This is…"
Seeing this scene, everyone"s expressions changed as they felt a bad feeling.
"Are we being told something? Or is this a warning?"
Chen Rou"s expression was grim as she realized something.
Ahead, the image of the city became hazy and distorted.
Following this, it was replaced by a ma.s.sive, savage face.
The face was extremely savage, and every vein and every line was incredibly realistic.
The face slowly rose into the air and gave a vicious laugh.
As it laughed, it seemed incredibly terrifying as if it was mocking something.
Following this, the entire Cursed Land began to shake.
All around the Cursed Land, ma.s.sive holes appeared.
Dense curse energy erupted out, and compared to before, it was hundreds of times more powerful.
Intense curse energy covered the surroundings, making it difficult to breathe.
"No way!"
"Such terrifying curse energy…"
Looking at their surroundings, everyone"s expressions greatly changed.
Curse energy was incredibly infectious, and if an ordinary person was infected, it would draw out all of their dark thoughts, causing their personalities to greatly change.
Because Curse Bearers had Curse Seeds, they had greater resistance than ordinary people.
Even so, that resistance did not give them immunity.
If it surpa.s.sed a certain limit, even Curse Bearers would not be able to withstand it.
Within Cursed Lands, the density of curse energy was already very high.
After this Cursed Land exploded out, the density of curse energy had become hundreds of times higher.
It seemed that they would not be given a way out.
Even as Curse Bearers, they could not do anything against such density.
Without the curses doing anything, they would soon fall to the corrosion of curse energy.
Ahead, waves of light were once again released.
Standing there and seeing this scene, Chen Rou"s face was pale as she felt a feeling of helplessness.
Against a threat like this, even she could not do anything and could only wait for death.
However, in front of her, the golden pendant once again gave off light.
Gentle, clear golden light spread out, forming a barrier in the surroundings that protected Chen Rou and the others, blocking off the curse energy.
All around them, the power of curse energy continuously appeared.
However, it could not break through the barrier and affect Chen Rou and the others.
The crisis had pa.s.sed for now.
Everyone let out sighs of relief.
They had essentially claimed their lives back and would not die under the explosion of curse energy.
However, the following scenes caused them to feel quite nervous.
As the curse energy exploded out, large numbers of dark figures covered their surroundings.
They were all like giants and were ma.s.sive and terrifying.
As the curse energy exploded out, they slowly headed forwards towards the city ahead.
The explosion of the Cursed Land had not been stopped.