My daughter has been possessed.

Chapter 114 Ghost Fire Curse

Chapter 114 Ghost Fire Curse (Second Update, 5.2k words)

Zhou Yiwen's words indeed left Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo dumbfounded.

Luo Shuo hurriedly said, "Master Zhou, can you tell that Brother Li and I have both been cursed?"

Although he was still asking the question, he actually believed Zhou Yiwen's words in his heart, after all, the other party was a powerful sorcerer.

Even though Zhou Yiwen's health is failing and his life is about to end, his experience and abilities should not be underestimated.

Zhou Yiwen nodded: "If I'm not mistaken, the curses you've all suffered are of the same kind."

"Didn't I?" Ma Li asked immediately.

"No, you're very healthy," Zhou Yiwen smiled. "Your level of health far surpasses ours."

These words were quite profound, and Ma Li understood their meaning.

She immediately sat up straight, keeping her eyes fixed straight ahead, and stopped asking questions, hoping that the old sorcerer in front of her wouldn't notice anything different about her.

Li Jiuhe was even more puzzled: "You mean, Luo Shuo and I are under the same curse?"

Yes, the same one.

Zhou Yiwen slowly raised his right hand, waved it, and said to his daughter behind him, "Xiaoyan, go and take the sandalwood and open flame out of the house. Don't let these things appear in front of the guests."

Although his daughter was puzzled, she did not ask any questions. Instead, she immediately went forward and took away the sandalwood incense that was emitting light smoke and fragrance from the sandalwood cabinet in the corner.

He then ordered the servants outside to extinguish all open flames inside the house, preventing any open flames from appearing inside.

This bizarre turn of events left Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo even more puzzled.

Zhou Yiwen slowly explained, "If I'm not mistaken, you two have been afflicted by the Ghost Fire Curse. It's a curse that's very difficult to cast successfully, requiring a series of preparations. People afflicted by the Ghost Fire Curse cannot get close to open flames; if they do, their bodies will instantly ignite and burn to death on the spot."

"Ah!" Li Jiuhe exclaimed in surprise.

Luo Shuo was so frightened that he stood up.

Ma Li was also quite surprised, her eyes darting around as if she were trying to recall something.

Zhou Yiwen raised his hand and said, "Don't be nervous! There are no open flames in this room anymore. And you were lucky before you came here, as you weren't exposed to any open flames, which is why you're safe and sound."

Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo exchanged a glance, thinking to themselves how lucky they were that neither of them smoked, otherwise they would have been burned to death long ago.

Even someone like Li Jiuhe, who possesses a strong ability to define tasks, might not be able to escape this situation, because tasks always have a time limit. If he is approached by open flames at the moment when the previous task has ended and the new task has not yet been successfully defined, he will still die.

At that moment, both of them felt a wave of fear.

At the same moment, the problem that Li Jiuhe had been struggling to figure out for the past two days suddenly became clear.

He finally understood why the hidden sorcerer had used Yu Minmin to carry out this plan to hunt them down!

All of this was a setup, whether it was using He Erbing to curse them to be hunted down by Yu Minmin, or having the Corpse Controller control Yu Minmin to go to Nanfeng Town, and then Yu Minmin being killed in return.

Because Yu Minmin's body had already been cursed by the sorcerer beforehand, meaning her body had long since become a catalyst for the curse.

Using a small pink cloth bag as another incantation, they rushed to Nanfeng Town to hunt down Li Jiuhe, but in reality, they brought the real Ghost Fire Curse to Li Jiuhe.

If they manage to kill Yu Minmin, they will inevitably be cursed by the will-o'-the-wisp.

Yesterday morning, Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo had a strange feeling after burning Yu Minmin's body.

At the time, they didn't understand what that feeling meant, nor did they connect it with the fact that they had been cursed. Now, thinking about it carefully, they both realized how close they had come to disaster.

Because it's cold in Nanfeng Town and there's no air conditioning in the houses, everyone uses traditional charcoal fires for heating.

Fortunately, after returning to their rented room that morning, they did not light a fire to keep warm, but immediately left with Huang Guozhong and headed to Mingzhu City.

While in the car, the driver wanted to smoke, but because the people in the car were all his superiors whom he didn't know, he didn't dare to light one.

After arriving in Mingzhu City, Li Jiuhe and the others were very fortunate not to have come into close contact with open flames, which is why they have unknowingly survived to this day.

If Li Jiuhe hadn't insisted on rushing to meet with the old sorcerer Zhou Yiwen, who knows how much longer they would have continued to wander outside amidst this ever-present danger.

Just thinking about it now gives me the creeps.

So this is the real killer move! If they hadn't seen Zhou Yiwen, they would never have been discovered.

As for the bomb in the Corpse Controller's house, it was just a cover-up, because the sorcerer hiding behind the scenes knew very well that these methods could not kill Li Jiuhe at all.

Li Jiuhe asked, "Elder Zhou, you said we can't be exposed to open flames. Approximately what is that range?"

Zhou Yiwen was clearly familiar with this type of curse, and replied without hesitation: "Within one to two meters, there may be some error, but it's roughly in that range."

"That was really close." Luo Shuo's face turned pale.

Imagine if they happened to pass by a passerby smoking on the street, or if they encountered someone using an open flame, the two of them would instantly be on fire within two meters.

Judging from the intensity of this ghost fire curse, it's probably the kind that explodes directly, and it's definitely not just burning on the surface of the body, but an explosion from the inside out, making it impossible to extinguish.

"Elder Zhou, is there any way to lift this curse?" Li Jiuhe asked.

Zhou Yiwen nodded.

His daughter, who had been standing behind him, immediately looked troubled: "Dad, you—"

Zhou Yiwen raised his hand to interrupt her: "What are you worried about? I'm going to die anyway. What difference does it make whether I die today or tomorrow?"

"That's not how it is—"

Zhou Yiwen's daughter stepped forward and stood beside the wheelchair, looking at everyone: "My father is in very good health. He's a Sequencer, and a highly experienced Spellcaster at that! With his physical condition, he could easily live to be 150 or 160. He was killed by someone—"

"Xiao Yan!" Zhou Yiwen immediately scolded, then coughed violently.

This scene frightened his daughter so much that she immediately shut up and dared not say anything more. Instead, she ran to the side and got Zhou Yiwen's thermos.

After drinking several sips of hot water, Zhou Yiwen stopped coughing.

Although his daughter didn't finish speaking, everyone present had already roughly understood what she was saying.

Zhou Yiwen's current state is not due to his own fault, but rather because he was harmed by others.

Li Jiuhe said, "Old Zhou, you don't need to hide anything. Luo Shuo and I are both investigators from the General Bureau. You've already seen our credentials. If anyone is trying to frame you, we will definitely investigate."

"But that depends on the curse being lifted first," Luo Shuo quickly added. "After all, in this state, I'm too afraid to even go out, don't you think?"

Zhou Yiwen nodded: "You two are both investigators from the Capital Investigation Bureau, so I naturally trust you and am willing to offer my assistance. But the reason you came to see me today shouldn't be for this, right?"

Li Jiuhe said, "That's not our purpose. We came here to see if we can use your magical powers to help me find my daughter."

He then recounted what had happened to him, including the fact that he now only knew that his daughter had entered the abandoned wooden house, and that Tong Cheng had also entered because he was cursed by the curse of the sorcerer.

When Tong Cheng was mentioned, Zhou Yiwen's expression clearly showed that he knew Tong Cheng, and there was a hint of emotion in his voice.

After a long pause, he slowly spoke, "I never imagined that Investigator Tong would be willing to risk his life for his teacher. What more can I, an old man on my deathbed, say?"

His daughter, standing beside him, looked anxious again, but she knew very well that no one could stop her father's decision.

Zhou Yiwen continued, "To be honest, my magical power has declined drastically, otherwise my body wouldn't have suddenly become so weak."

However, I just estimated that it should be just enough to remove the will-o'-the-wisp curse from both of you. But—"

"Old Zhou, I can offer you payment; you can name your price," Luo Shuo said hurriedly.

Li Jiuhe glared at him and continued, "Old Zhou, do you want us to take care of the person who harmed you?"

Zhou Yiwen waved his hand and smiled, "I'm not short of money, and I don't want to leave my grudges and hatred to my children. Let it all go! This is probably my fate. Right now, I just want to rescue my four students, including Zhang Song, whom you've been looking for. They must be in danger. Please help me after the curse is lifted."

"I'll help, I definitely will!" Luo Shuo nodded immediately.

"What exactly happened to them?" Li Jiuhe asked.

Zhou Yiwen reached into his robes and shakily pulled out a milky-white stone, resembling a pebble.

"This is a Boundary Stone, a special sequence item—"

"Serial object?!"

Ma Li's eyes lit up immediately, and she stared intently at the milky white pebble.

However, Zhou Yiwen noticed her gaze and looked over. Upon seeing this, Ma Li immediately lowered her head, no longer daring to look directly at the boundary stone.

"Dad, let me tell them. You shouldn't keep talking, take a break."

Zhou Yiwen's daughter spoke up.

Seeing her father nod, she continued, "The Boundary Stone can generate an independent space, a world of its own, which can be used to train and train future generations. Every so often, the world within the Boundary Stone will change on its own, generating new illusory worlds. Sometimes they are indistinguishable from our world, and sometimes they are very strange worlds. My father has been using it to train those curse trainees, letting them practice curses and teamwork within the Boundary Stone."

Li Jiuhe roughly guessed: "You mean, Zhang Song and the other three are currently inside this boundary stone?"

Zhou Yiwen's daughter nodded: "Yes, they went in yesterday and should have come out that night, but there's been no news since. They've entered the Boundary Stone for training more than once or twice, but this has never happened before. My dad used his remaining magical power to sense that the Boundary Stone is locked; they can only enter, not leave. He doesn't know what happened inside, and given his current state, he probably won't be able to leave either, so—"

Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo nodded at the same time, understanding that Zhou Yiwen wanted them to enter the boundary stone to help rescue the four students.

Of course, it would be even better if the reason why the boundary stone is locked could be resolved.

Zhou Yiwen, this old sorcerer, is indeed remarkable. He is kind-hearted, and even now, when he asked Li Jiuhe and the others to investigate, it was not for his own sake, but to save those four students.

As for the fact that he himself was harmed, he no longer cared about it, nor did he ever think about revenge.

"Do the two investigators have any concerns?" Zhou Yiwen continued, "If it's really difficult, I won't force you. I'll lift the Ghost Fire Curse for you right now."

In reality, he was out of options. At present, almost all the experts he knew in the investigation bureaus of Xingtai City and surrounding cities were unable to handle the current work.

Moreover, Zhou Yiwen didn't want to harm investigators with too low a skill level.

He happened to run into two investigators from the General Bureau, and in his opinion, their abilities were definitely much stronger than those of the local investigation bureaus.

Although it seems that both of them also have their own troubles at the moment.

However, this was a problem that he was able to solve, so he thought of asking Li Jiuhe and the other person for help.

Li Jiuhe nodded emphatically: "There's nothing to worry about. I will help you find those four students and bring them out of the boundary stone."

"Thank you for your trouble," Zhou Yiwen said gratefully. "However, there's one more thing. I observed that this boundary stone can only accommodate one more person at most. Otherwise, if two people are forcibly crammed in, it will lock up both inside and out, making it extremely difficult to get out—"

Li Jiuhe understood what he meant.

Without consulting Luo Shuo, he immediately said, "I'll go in; Luo Shuo is right here."

Luo Shuo is only good at tracking and his physical attacks are not strong. It is definitely safest for him to go in by himself. If he really can't handle it, he can reset the mission and go back to before entering the boundary stone.

Li Jiuhe entered the Morning Bell of the Seventh Night by accident because the mission at that time had just ended and could not be reset.

He couldn't believe that his extremely rare ability to define tasks would be suppressed and trapped by the boundary stone, even though such boundary stones seemed to be very rare.

Luo Shuo looked troubled, as if he wanted to say something, but he also knew very well that it would be safest for Li Jiuhe to go in for this kind of mission.

If it were me, I would most likely die inside, since my abilities are not suitable for solo missions, but only for teamwork.

He gave Li Jiuhe a grateful look, and Li Jiuhe nodded. Neither of them spoke.

"Come on, let me first lift the will-o'-the-wisp curse from you."

Zhou Yiwen handed the Boundary Stone to his daughter, then stretched out his withered, tree-like hand to Li Jiuhe and Luo Shuo.

"Luo Shuo, you should deactivate it first," Li Jiuhe said.

Luo Shuo nodded, reached out, and shook hands with Zhou Yiwen's withered hand.

"Is there anything else I need to do?" he asked.

Zhou Yiwen shook his head, signaling him not to speak.

Then the gaunt old man stretched out his other hand and first made a gesture in front of his chest, seemingly drawing some pattern in the air.

Then he flipped Luo Shuo's hand over so that Luo Shuo's hand was on the back, and with his other hand he drew another strange pattern.

Meanwhile, Zhou Yiwen was muttering to himself, but no one could understand what he was saying.

Everyone else was just curious about what they saw, but Zhou Yiwen's daughter, an old lady with wrinkles on her face, kept her lips tightly pursed.

She was in great pain, but knowing her father's personality, she could only watch silently.

A moment later, a purple, illusory flame suddenly appeared on the back of Luo Shuo's hand, rose into the air, moved away from his body, and floated in front of Zhou Yiwen's hand, which was constantly making patterns.

Zhou Yiwen gently pinched the illusory flame, and the flame instantly vanished.

"That's enough." He released Luo Shuo's hand and looked at Li Jiuhe.

Luo Shuo was very surprised. After burning Yu Minmin's body that day, that strange feeling of unease reappeared with the appearance of the illusory flames just now, but it completely disappeared the moment the flames disappeared.

He knew Zhou Yiwen hadn't lied to him; the Ghost Fire Curse had truly been lifted.

It looks effortless, but this is the work of an old sorcerer; no other cursed person could do it so easily.

Li Jiuhe reached out his hand, but suddenly he remembered something, his outstretched hand trembled, and he withdrew it.

Everyone stared at him in bewilderment, not knowing why.

"Elder Zhou, is it possible that you can only use your remaining spell power once more?" Li Jiuhe asked.

Zhou Yiwen did not answer, but his daughter immediately nodded and said, "It's not the power of the curse, but that my father's life force is only enough for him to use it this time."

It seems that Zhou Yiwen's actual situation is much more serious than others expected, which explains why his daughter stood by looking so distressed.

"It's alright." Zhou Yiwen smiled and shook his head. "The situation isn't as bad as you think. I'm no longer a sorcerer, but I won't die anytime soon."

Li Jiuhe fell silent.

After a moment, he suddenly asked, "Elder Zhou, if I ask you to use the last of your cursed power to curse me into the abandoned wooden hut, can you do that?"

Everyone was stunned.

Luo Shuo and Ma Li said in unison, "No way!"

"Li Jiuhe, have you gone mad!" Luo Shuo exclaimed anxiously. "You're under the Ghost Fire Curse, your life is hanging by a thread. Even if you manage to get into the abandoned wooden house, you might encounter an open flame at any moment. Are you out of your mind?"

In fact, Luo Shuo is older than Li Jiuhe, but he is very good at dealing with people, so he always calls Li Jiuhe "Brother Li".

Now he was afraid that Li Jiuhe would do something stupid, so in his haste he called him by his name.

Ma Li also said, "Handsome guy, you really can't do this! Think about it, what's the point of seeing your daughter again if you lose your life? You don't want your daughter to be heartbroken, do you?"

Zhou Yiwen shook his head: "Putting aside whether I can do it, I absolutely won't do it for you. The most important thing right now is to remove your Ghost Fire Curse. Have you forgotten? You still need to help me enter the Boundary Stone to save my four students. If you die from the curse, will your promise still stand?"

He spoke with some emotion, and as soon as he finished speaking, he started coughing again.

His daughter behind him quickly opened the water glass and brought the warm water to Zhou Yiwen's lips.

Li Jiuhe remained silent.

Ma Li seemed to understand what he was thinking and said, "Now that Boss Tong Cheng is in jail, if anything really happens to your daughter, isn't Tong Cheng better than you in that place? He will definitely protect your daughter. Your most important thing now is to make sure you don't die and see her alive."

"it is good."

Li Jiuhe nodded, stopped thinking about it, and stretched out his hand in front of Zhou Yiwen.

Zhou Yiwen gently grasped it, and after feeling it for a moment, before he could even reach out to trace the pattern, he suddenly looked doubtful.

"Hiss, what's going on? Your curse is different."