Chapter 14: Curse

“Bang!”

The ornate, porcelain cup slammed against the lapis ground, shattering into a fine powder.

“A bunch of worthless trash! You actually let them get away?” Gu Feihong said as he stared at his subordinates with an ashen expression.

One of the subordinates replied, “Young Master, the situation was too strange. That Su Chen seemed to use some secret technique - we had caught up to them, but then they jumped into the water and disappeared without a trace. It seems like they possessed some kind of water concealment technique.”

“I don’t know whether Su Chen has a water concealment technique, but would I not know if Gu Qingluo did? When did she learn this water concealment technique? I’d be more likely to believe that you didn’t do your due diligence and are just coming up with excuses to cover your ass!” Gu Feihong said as he unleashed a punch, immediately sending that man flying. It was obvious that he was no longer alive.

It wasn’t that Gu Feihong was being too self-confident or opinionated. It was that the technique Su Chen had managed to develop was a kind that had never really been seen before across the entire Primordial Continent.

It wasn’t that cloning and body-splitting techniques didn’t exist. A few unique bloodlines allowed a person to achieve this result, but most of them could only exist for a limited amount of time, and couldn’t leave the main body.

The cloning technique Su Chen had developed was the most outstanding one the Primordial Continent had seen. It might not be the most powerful in combat, but the clones’ ability to survive apart from the main host were unrivalled. This was because of Su Chen’s deep understanding and command of Origin Substances. At the same time, he also possessed a powerful enough consciousness that he didn’t need to worry about expending a small sliver of it to give him control over these clones.

Because this kind of technique was still unheard of at that point in time, it wasn’t really surprising that Gu Feihong had made a mistake in his analysis of the situation.

Even so, after a period of interrogation, Gu Feihong discovered that the two of them had truly disappeared after jumping into a well. Whether or not it was actually a kind of water concealment, it was obvious that Su Chen possessed some kind of secret escape technique.

“Dammit!” Gu Feihong clenched his fist in anger.

He paced back and forth a few times before saying, “They probably aren’t in the city anymore. Since they have an escape technique, we probably won’t be able to find them even if we send more people to look for them. It seems like we can only ask the imperial family for help.

“Young Master, for Gu Qingluo……” Yang Chunyan was stunned and wanted to entreat Gu Feihong.

“Shut your mouth!” Gu Feihong slapped Yang Chunyan. “If it weren’t for you, could Gu Qingluo have gotten away?”

Yang Chunyan lowered his head and didn’t say anything.

Gu Feihong said loudly, “Prepare the carriage. I’m going to go see the Crown Prince!”

After an hour.

At the Crown Prince’s residence.

Chu Jiangyu sat on his seat of honor, calmly drinking his tea. “Brother Gu, it’s not that I don’t want to help you, but this goes against the agreement between our two clans. When our ancestors made the agreement, they laid down three rules, one of them being that the Swan-Catching Demon Seal can only be used to catch those breaking the law, not for any personal moves. Your current request puts me in a very difficult position.”

Gu Feihong chuckled. “I know. However, I am the one making this request of my own initiative. The imperial family is not defaulting on their promise that way.”

“The question is, can you say that you represent the Gu Clan?”

“This……” Gu Feihong hesitated.

The Gu Clan had twelve Human Emperors, twenty-seven different families in the main branch alone, and one hundred and eight elders in the Elders Council. All of these individuals were important members of the Gu Clan, each of them with their own unique thoughts on the matter.

Gu Feihong did have a respected position amongst the Gu Clan, but he was not the only one with such a position.

He could indeed influence the Gu Clan, but he was far from the point where he could make decisions on behalf of the Gu Clan.

Upon seeing him like this, Chu Jiangyu chuckled slightly. “See? It’s not that I don’t want to help you; it’s that you are unable to give me the guarantee I need. If I were to go to my father just because you asked me to, then I most likely wouldn’t be able to see my position as the Crown Prince all the way to the end.”

Gu Feihong grew agitated. “Please, Crown Prince, you must help me! No matter what, I cannot watch that illicit couple act outside of the law.”

Chu Jiangyu’s expression sank slightly. “You mean, act outside of your Gu Clan, right? The laws of Empty Mountain are dictated by the Chu Clan, not the Gu Clan.”

Gu Feihong realized that he had made a mistake. “Yes, I misspoke. Please, Crown Prince, forgive me. If Crown Prince is willing to help me, I am willing to offer a Thousand-Year Azurite in exchange!”

“Thousand-Year Azurite?” Chu Jiangyu muttered, seemingly a bit moved.

After thinking about it for a moment, he said, “It’s not impossible for me to help you, but you must give me an official request in writing and imprint it with the Shining Dragon’s Origin Bloodline as a seal.”

“This……” Gu Feihong hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, “Fine!”

After sending Gu Feihong away, Chu Jiangyu smiled wickedly.

A middle-aged man emerged from the darkness and said, “Crown Prince, are you really going to ask His Majesty to activate the Swan-Catching Mirror just for a piece of Thousand-Year Azurite?”

Chu Jiangyu’s eyebrows jumped. “Is that possible? Even though the Thousand-Year Azurite is valuable, would I treasure it? I am the Crown Prince here, and we have any treasure you could possibly imagine. Why would I care about the Gu Clan’s treasures?”

“Then you……”

Chu Jiangyu chuckled darkly, “If I didn’t take some of his benefits, how would I show that I was entreated by someone? That idiot Gu Feihong, he is basically offering up the Gu Clan on a platter! Even if I didn’t give him any benefits, I would have been willing to agree. Hahahaha!”

The Gu Clan agreed to be supervised by the Chu Clan, but as long as the Gu Clan was not rebelling, attempting to flee the country, or secretly passing down their bloodline, the Chu Clan was not allowed to carelessly observe them.

The Chu Clan had abided by this agreement for many years and would not carelessly activate the Swan-Catching Mirror.

However, as descendants possessing an Origin Beast Bloodline, who could say whether or not they were up to no good?

In the past few years, the Chu Clan had activated the Swan-Catching Mirror a few times after certain incidents had occurred in the Gu Clan’s territory. However, the Gu Clan was always aware that it was going to happen.

Since they were aware it was going to happen, they would naturally make the appropriate preparations. It could be said that using the Swan-Catching Mirror under these kinds of circumstances didn’t allow them to monitor the Gu Clan at all.

However, today was different.

Gu Feihong had made a request without informing anyone from the Gu Clan, and was even going to imprint the Shining Dragon seal as well as an Origin Bloodline seal on a written request. This way, the Chu Clan wouldn’t be violating the agreement between the two clans, yet they could still use this opportunity to observe the Gu Clan.

Gu Feihong was basically handing over a sword by the hilt to his opponent just to find Gu Qingluo. How could Chu Jiangyu not be ecstatic?

Most importantly, as the Crown Prince, performing a meritorious service of such degree would definitely make his father happy.

The sky was bright again.

When Gu Qingluo awoke, she discovered that Su Chen was not by her side.

She put on her clothes and walked out of the cave, finding Iron Cliff and the twelve Sword Servants standing guard at the entrance to the cave.

“Greetings, Madame!”

Iron Cliff and the others greeted Gu Qingluo when they saw her emerge.

Gu Qingluo accepted this greeting magnanimously and asked, “Where is Su Chen?”

“He’s over there with Young Master Cloud researching something,” Iron Cliff replied as he pointed off at the nearby forest.

“Back to his research as soon as the sun comes up……” Gu Qingluo muttered. Even the strongest woman would feel that a man who only focused on his “work” was insensitive. And even though Gu Qingluo had matured significantly, she was not yet fully logical, and in her youthfulness she naturally had her own thoughts and dreams about her romance.

However, she very quickly realized that she had misunderstood Su Chen.

Su Chen was closely inspecting a vial of medicine within the stone room in the forest.

There was very little blood in the vial - just a single drop. Yet it was this single drop of blood that was bubbling with a shocking amount of Origin Energy, unleashing a powerful aura.

Su Chen poured in three medicines one after another into the vial in order to suppress this boiling energy.

Even so, the rare droplet of blood continued to bubble quietly, as if some ancient beast wanted to cry out. This kind of sensation was powerful enough that it penetrated deep into the heart of anyone close enough to feel it.

“This is……” Gu Qingluo happened to see this, and she couldn’t help but ask inquisitively.

“It’s your blood,” Su Chen replied without looking up.

While they were cuddling yesterday, Su Chen had asked Gu Qingluo for some drops of her blood.

“What are you researching?” Gu Qingluo asked.

“The Swan-Catching Demon Seal,” Su Chen replied.

As he spoke, a column of smoke began to rise from the surface of the medicine. The smoke assumed the form of a demon and began to howl angrily at Su Chen.

Su Chen tapped it with his finger. The image of the demon dissipated, howling as it disappeared.

“You managed to nullify it?” Gu Qingluo asked.

“No, it’s just gone into hibernation.” Su Chen shook his head. “It really is quite a frightening curse. The curse imprints itself on every cell in a person’s body like a parasite, and there is not really a way to drive it out. Even if you destroy it, it regenerates itself rapidly, and there are actually three curses like that.”

“This is a secret technique utilized by the seven great Desolate Beast Clans to deal with the Origin Beast Bloodline. If it was so easy to neutralize, the old ancestors of my clan would probably have dealt with it by now,” Gu Qingluo sighed.

The Gu Clan’s bloodline was being suppressed by three distinct curses.

These were the Swan-Catching Demon Seal, the Capricorn Curse, and the Origin Dream Killer, which were used to locate, control, and kill if necessary. The Chu Clan was able to use the Swan-Catching Mirror, Capricorn Staff, and Origin Dream Jade to control these three curses.

The demonic image that had appeared earlier was the Swan-Catching Demon Seal.

The Swan-Catching Demon Seal was the supreme technique for pinpointing an individual’s location. It could be planted in a person, with the Desolate Beast Bloodline as the price, after which it would extend deep roots into the bloodline of a Gu Clan individual. This was how the Seven Kingdoms were able to maintain control, and no one was able to evade the seal’s effect.

As long as the Chu Clan wanted to, they could use this seal to observe the target’s movements.

By the same token, however, when the Swan-Catching Mirror was activated, the target of observation would also sense it.

Because of this, the two clans had made an agreement that, unless one of the Gu Clan’s members had broken the agreement first, the Chu Clan wouldn’t casually use the Swan-Catching Mirror for a personal investigation.

Even though Gu Qingluo had fled from the Gu Clan, she hadn’t yet left Empty Mountain, nor had she rebelled against the Chu Clan. This matter was merely a clan issue, so the Chu Clan’s had no right to spy on her. Gu Feihong asking Chu Jiangyu to make a move in order to find Gu Qingluo was equivalent to asking a woman to sell her entire clan. Even Su Chen had not expected Gu Feihong to do so. In that sense, Su Chen was actually a step behind Gu Feihong, and his prediction was not entirely accurate.

Usually, smart people didn’t lose to smart people; they lost to people who behaved with no sense of rationality.

Of course, this oversight was not a decisive one. The final outcome would still be difficult to determine.

At this moment, Su Chen was still researching the curse.

He was doing so not just for Gu Qingluo’s sake but also because it was a habit of his.

Under the activation of his microscopic eye, he very quickly discovered some things that most normal people would not be able to discover.

Su Chen began to smile. “I won’t be able to neutralize these curses for the time being, but I might be able to extract them.”

“Extract them?” Gu Qingluo didn’t understand. “Are you saying that you want to attempt to control these three kinds of curses?”

As he gently swirled the vial in his hands, Su Chen calmly replied, “Perhaps even more than that……”

Gu Qingluo’s eyes lit up. “How long will it take for you to research this?”

“If I’m willing to pay the price…… very quickly!”