Except for the goosebumps caused by nervousness, I never saw or touched the slightest pimple on my body.

That's not right.

The recent ups and downs have made me almost forget that I am a man on the verge of death.

The curse from Hades has caused me to grow large black herpes that can rot a person to death in a very short time, just like the people who stole the Yama Well tribute.

Luckily, I met Underworld. He used a medicine made from something called the Stone Yin Black Blood Cicada to restrain this terrible curse. But alas, the effect of that medicine is temporary, and it can only restrain the toxicity for a short period of one day, so as to slow down the speed of its spread, and give me a little bit of life in the limited time.

This meant that once I stopped taking the drug, my body would soon be flooded with black blisters again caused by the poison.

It's dense, disgusting, and terrifying.

But from yesterday to today, I haven't taken medicine for nearly two days, and those herpes haven't come out.

So holding my clean arm, I was at a loss for a moment, and I didn't know what to do with it, and I didn't know whether it was a good or bad situation.

"You were born a 'mud man'. ”

When Wu was in a daze, the young man sipped malt milk essence and stared at my wrist and said unhurriedly.

"Mud syndrome is the same thing that is in the genes of human heredity, and as your mother said, you're a child of genetic failure, a human born of a monster. In this way, the genes of the youkai in your bloodline are very low, and even more, in order to save your life, your mother also turned you into a complete human through the hands of the Snow Bodhisattva. Therefore, if you are contaminated with the poison in the well of Hades, if there is no effective solution, you will not be able to escape death. ”

“...... Originally?" Even though my head was at a loss, I still heard two words that meant a lot to me in the few short and precise words of the Underworld's short and precise strikes.

"Yes, originally. He looked at me with the same meaning. "But now your situation is a little different. ”

"How is it different?"

"On this note, I think you should have already noticed that last night your mother's part of the gene, for some reason, suddenly appeared in you, and it was very obvious. ”

I remembered that I had become the big cat, and subconsciously tightened my fingers.

"Interestingly, mud people can't show demonic nature," he folded his hands, looking at me as I listened cautiously and nervously to his words, "From the moment you were born, the most vulnerable group of you demon clan was destined to be born without the power and body of youkai. But the changes that happened to you last night broke my cognition. Qiu Beitang, frankly speaking, you are the only one I have seen in the past two thousand years, the only one who can show his demon body and deity. ”

"So, what does this have to do with the poison in my body?"

My breathing slowly became rapid with the words of the Immortal Prince, and I had a hunch in my heart, but I was not sure until I got a clear answer from him.

I just looked at him motionlessly, and my hands were a little damp as I held them.

After waiting with bated breath for about ten seconds, he finally spoke slowly in my fidgeting tension: "I think that the curse poison is currently suppressed by the mutated monster gene in your body, after all, what your mother has in her body is the blood of the mountain ghosts of Beiwen Mountain. ”

“...... So?"

"So for now, you should be fine. ”

Sensing a drastic change in the expression on my face for a moment, the young man remained silent.

Wuzi was silent, as if patiently waiting for me to digest it, which was undoubtedly great news for me.

But in fact, the excitement brought to me by this good news did not last long.

Even though my eardrums were buzzing with the pounding of my heart the moment I got the answer, I still didn't miss the four key words in the words of the young man-

'for now', and 'should'.

This left me half awake in the excitement and confusion of my brain just now, and after a few moments, this sobriety became more definite, and I squeezed my wet palm hard, silently waiting for the young man to continue.

Come to think of it, my reaction was something that Hades had already anticipated.

After taking the last sip of malt cream, he placed the empty cup on the bedside table and looked at me with my gaze: "It seems that you should have thought that although it seems that you are no longer affected by the curse, in fact, everything is still unknown. ”

I was still silent, but the emotions that had been high just now had slowly fallen back to their original place with his words.

Seeing this, he smiled faintly, reached out and picked up the half-burned sandalwood on the plate, and took it into his mouth like a cigarette: "As I said just now, you are the only half-demon I have seen in this world for two thousand years, who can manifest his demon body and himself. So there is no precedent before you to prove whether this genetic change is permanent in you or a temporary mutation caused by some special circumstance that has not yet been identified. Therefore, you still have to keep the medicine I gave you, just in case you ......"

What in case?

He didn't go on, but I knew it.

It's just that I subconsciously don't want to face this point, at least for the time being, because I really don't want to be easily broken so soon that I just got so little hope.

My heart was still beating fast, for the moment before the sudden turn of my hopeless fate.

Who would have thought that my mother was not only a monster, but also that the genes in her bloodline could easily restrain the curse of Hades.

Although I don't know how long I can restrain it, it's better than the original hopelessness.

So at this moment, I don't want to think about anything else, I just let myself linger in this hope for a while.

In fact, to be honest, even if I heard from the young man that the thing he was looking for in Wentou Village might be able to cure the curse poison on my body. But at that time, I didn't really have much hope for it.

Hades' curse is too vicious.

I've always felt that even if the Immortal Boy could really find that thing in the village, he might not really be able to solve the curse. Otherwise, before my grandmother took that thing out of the well, why didn't he ever use it to get out of the well for so many years?

When I thought of this, a fragrant mist spread in front of my eyes, and I subconsciously looked up at the young man.

I don't know if he was aware of the many thoughts in my heart, but he waited for my silence again with silence, and inhaled the sandalwood in his hand without a hand.

That incomparably delicate face was a little unreal behind the incense mist.

Just like the smell of sandalwood, it is vague and ambiguous.

So the whole world became a little chaotic. It's like a mirage, whether it's people or the world, at this moment, it seems to be like the smoke around it, and it will disperse as soon as the wind blows.

I couldn't help but take a deep breath slowly, and then a question came out of my mouth a little abruptly: "Childe, do you have any conflict of interest with Prince Gong?"

Hearing this, the eyes of the young man sank slightly.

After a while, he raised his eyebrows and looked at me, "Why did you suddenly think of asking about this?"

"Liu Liqing last night was possessed. ”

"I know. ”

"Possessing him is the Qing Dynasty prince Ye Yi that my aunt talked about. ”

After a pause, seeing that the young man didn't say anything, I continued: "Auntie said that Prince Gong is very angry, and he is the second in the Hades Well, second only to the owner of the Hades Well, that is, you. Last night, when I saw him trapping you with Ms. Du and killing you everywhere, I thought you didn't have a grudge against him, but then I thought about it, you and he are not from the same dynasty, so there should be no grudge against him. The person he hated was the Empress Dowager Cixi, so I think his actions last night were more likely...... He wants something out of you. ”

With that, I heard a chuckle from the Underworld.

He didn't nod or deny it, but after laughing, he didn't cater to my interest.

So after a moment of silence, I looked at his calm eyes and pointed to my heart: "Yesterday when your place was shattered by lightning, I saw something strange. ”

"What's that?"

"I saw you—before you became a skeleton. ”

"What do you mean. ”

"You died in the first place, didn't you?"

After asking, seeing that his face was still uneasy, I hesitated and didn't continue to say anything.

His reaction was enough to show that he didn't want to continue the topic at all, and it seemed a bit self-deprecating for me to ask any more questions.

Besides, what is the point of asking this? I don't have any ability to help him deal with Prince Gong, it's just that at that moment just now, I suddenly remembered Liu Liqing, who disappeared from the miasma outside the window not long ago, and then I thought of Prince Gong who was attached to him and manipulated him to seriously injure the prince of the underworld.

But it doesn't seem appropriate to mention these things at this time, after all, the young man has just recovered a little bit of vitality.

His apparent peace doesn't mean his emotions won't fluctuate because of it.

So I picked up the water glass on the bedside table, and I shook it at him: "Don't talk about it, I just thought of something, so I asked casually." But it doesn't really matter...... You have a good rest first, I won't bother you. ”

After speaking, I was about to get up and leave with the cup, when I suddenly heard the young man say, "What's the matter?"

Seeing that I was a little stunned, he then added: "You said that you just thought of something, what is it?"

I reacted, "It's not a big deal. It's just that before you woke up, I saw Liu Liqing. ”

"He's been here?" said the young man's eyebrows frowned slightly.

"Yes. After a pause, seeing that he was looking at me intently, as if he was interested, I continued: "You know, Liu Liqing is dead. When I was in the hospital this morning, the police told me that he had committed suicide, and that he had died a very strange death, that he had strangled himself alive with his own hands. ”

"This is not surprising. Most people who have been possessed by something too heavy will not end up looking good if there is no accident. ”

"But just now, before you woke up, I saw him wandering outside my window. Moreover, he begged me to save him. ”

The young man raised his eyebrows slightly: "Why did he ask you to save him." ”

I shook my head: "I don't know, he didn't have time to say." But it seems that something is catching him, because later, he was sucked away by a black hole. ”

"Black holes?"

"Yes, just to the north," I said, turning my head and gesturing out the window, "but it's long gone." I don't know what it is, and I don't know if it has anything to do with Prince Gong, so ......"

"So you want an answer from me?"

"Not really. I lowered my hand and subconsciously rubbed the water glass in my hand: "It's just that when I think of Prince Gong, I think of those things I saw on you last night." I told you about it before, and when I realized that I had come here with you, I was actually dreaming. Do you know what I dreamed about at that time?"

"What did you dream about?"

"Originally, I was trying to find a more appropriate time to tell you. I looked up at him, "I dreamed that when you were injured by lightning last night, I witnessed you suddenly regain your human form, and then you were executed by an invisible man.

It was like a mirage, both illusory and real.

Thou hast turned thy back from me, with flesh and skin on thy body, and thou hast been cut down with an invisible hand until thy bones are exposed, and thou hast remained silent the whole time, just as thy bones were shattered by those lightnings.

I was scared and uncomfortable.

You know, it's not like I haven't met Ling Chi.

Technology has allowed us to see some real images from a hundred years ago, so in some very old photos, I have seen the torture of criminals in the late Qing Dynasty.

Very old photographs are very clear records, so I thought I could afford that.

But I really saw it with my own eyes, and the shock and horror were not the same as what I saw in the photos.

So I couldn't tell if I was in reality or in a dream.

Fortunately, when I was about to lose it, my dream suddenly changed.

The space that turned into a black hole was lit with only one lamp, and in the light there was a man and a woman.

What is certain is that they are not people of this era, because they wear clothes like ancients on the stage.

They leaned next to each other and talked, and the relationship seemed very close, but I couldn't see exactly what the two men looked like, and I couldn't understand what they were saying.

However, it was because of the appearance of these two people that I realized that I was indeed dreaming.

In my dreams, I didn't know why I followed the man later.

But as you walk, that man becomes you.

And that dream, unconsciously, suddenly became a reality......"

At this point in one breath, I felt a little confused, so I stopped.

And the young man listened quietly all the time.

I didn't know if he could pick up the point from my somewhat confused words, so after a pause, I thought about it and added, "Actually, I followed that man in my dreams, and it wasn't entirely for nothing. I forgot to mention that I was dreaming when I was woken up from a coma by those police officers before I went to the hospital last night. ”

Oh, it's a dream again......

"In the dream, there was a man who was dragged forward by a group of people covered in blood, as if he had just undergone a torture. And the way the man had his back to me seemed very similar to the man I had seen in my second dream.

Especially the clothes and the hair.

I'm a painter and I'm very sensitive to these details.

So I think that's probably why I dreamed of him again when I was in the hospital.

But I don't know why I'm dreaming of this person, just like I can't think of why I'm dreaming, I'm supposed to be lying in a hospital bed with a plaster cast on my body, but now I'm in my own home, and it's all unthinkable, it's real and not unreal. ”

At this point, I paused again.

Because I feel like I'm listening to it, I want to add something that I understand, but it seems that I'm getting more and more confused by what I'm saying.

It was so confusing that no one but myself could understand what I was saying.

And in fact, what I've experienced since last night has been chaotic enough.

It's like a series of nightmares.

So I suddenly felt a little tired, I pursed my lips and said no more, just looked at the quiet man in front of me motionlessly.

After a while, seeing that he had no intention of speaking, he stood up with the water cup in his hand: "I'm done, you can rest." ”

"Indeed, I died by strangulation. ”

Just as I was about to turn around, I couldn't help but be stunned when I heard this sentence come out of the mouth of the young man.

Then I heard him say again unhurriedly: "And that Prince Gong really wants to get something from me." ”

“...... What is that, what is it?"

"It's the thing that was taken out of the Hades Well by your grandmother Qiu Xiaoxia. It was the same thing that made me stripped 2,000 years ago. ”

"The thing you're looking for, that branch?"

Thinking of the thing that Liu Liqing used to absorb and guide thunder and lightning last night, I subconsciously asked him.

Hades smiled: "It's not a branch, it's a pen." ”

"Pen?"

"Qiu Beitang, since you were a child, have you heard the story of the magic pen Ma Liang?"

I opened my mouth.

I wanted to answer, but then I frowned.

Miracle pen Maleonn.

This is the second time I've heard this story told to me.

The last time I told you about it was a man named Yoo Sang.

He said that there was an ancient corpse in the well of Hades, which had not been excavated since the day it was buried, and that the ancient corpse was related to a legend that interested him very much.

That story is called Maleon.

He said that Maleonn's story was true.

But the reality is no better than a fairy tale, and the ending of Maleonn's story is far from being as innocent and interesting as a fairy tale.

He also said that Ma Liang had an apprentice.

That apprentice got the magic pen that everyone scrambled to seize after Maleon's death.

But because of that magic pen, this apprentice eventually died.

Die alive.

Thinking of this, suddenly it felt like a lightning bolt crossed my head.

The snow is bright and sharp, which makes my mind become extremely clear in an instant:

"Are you...... What is your relationship with Maleon?"

"Looks like I've heard of it. He smiled, "Not only that, but I should have heard a lot." ”

"What is your relationship with Maleon?" I asked again.

"The mentor-apprentice relationship. ”