Chapter 1125: The Cursed Remembrall

Various patterns on Lu Yang's white robe shifted to his chest, silently fixating on Jin Caiwei.

Even without turning around, Jin Caiwei felt numerous gazes fixed on her back. She was so mortified that she wished she could vanish into the ground. It was a complete disaster!

When he learned that Mr. Shi belonged to the Qiongqi clan, Lu Yang suddenly remembered the tiger demon he had first encountered.

That half-step Golden Core stage tiger demon appeared to possess a faint Qiongqi bloodline and was adept at controlling ghosts. The idiom "to act as a cat's-paw for a tiger" (referring to a ghost that leads victims to tigers) likely stemmed from this. If so, the art of controlling chāng ghosts might be a signature ability of the Qiongqi clan.

Though she had never seen Jin Caiwei employ it herself.

Jin Caiwei had indeed recognized Miao'er as a chāng ghost, but she knew the Qiongqi clan wasn't the sole practitioner of such techniques. She hadn't suspected her own family, especially since even the young man named Mang Gu was proficient in chāng ghost manipulation.

"You, you, you, you shouldn't speak such nonsense! Do we really need to resort to methods like this to boost our sales?" Jin Caiwei fumed, stamping her foot, her small face turning red then pale. She yearned to strangle this Mr. Shi—no, she corrected herself, this Mr. Jin.

"Young Ancestor, you don't understand," Mr. Shi began. "Our projection orbs are simply too good. They offer vast storage, are inexpensive, and are incredibly durable—they won't break even after ten or twenty years of use. Consequently, our sales in Jin'an City have already begun to decline!"

"In fact, we had also intended to film a terrifying 'Dream Bubble' production. Miao'er and the others' actions within the projection orb were precisely the scenes I wished to capture, perfect for gauging audience reactions."

Mr. Shi spoke with tears in his eyes. As the person in charge of Jin'an City, he was under immense pressure and was exploring various solutions.

"But you absolutely cannot use *this* method!" Jin Caiwei retorted through gritted teeth, wishing she could simply pretend the whole affair had never happened. "This has turned into a bizarre urban legend!" "What bizarre urban legend?" Mr. Shi asked, perplexed.

"Word in the black market is that female ghosts appear in the projection orbs, and anyone who sees them will suffer misfortune!" Jin Caiwei explained. She had purchased the projection orb specifically because of this very legend.

"Ah, you're referring to *that* legend," Mr. Shi said, quickly disavowing any connection. "I didn't create that one." "If not you, then who did?!"

"It truly wasn't me, Young Ancestor; I'm investigating this matter myself," Mr. Shi insisted. "It truly wasn't you?"

"I swear a solemn oath, it truly wasn't me!" Mr. Shi asserted confidently. Even with ten times the courage, he wouldn't dare lie to the Young Ancestor.

"Alright, get up. I suppose you wouldn't dare to lie anyway," Jin Caiwei said grumpily, walking straight into the main hall with Lu Yang following behind her. Mr. Shi quickly produced fine tea to serve both the Young Ancestor and Lu Yang.

Behind the screen in the main hall, several female ghosts peeked out, cautiously observing Mr. Shi as he attended to his guests. They didn't understand what had transpired, only that the seemingly omnipotent Mr. Shi had just been kneeling before Jin Caiwei.

"Why are all the chāng ghosts you've cultivated female?" Jin Caiwei asked, raising an eyebrow. "To answer the Young Ancestor," Mr. Shi replied, "female ghosts are more frightening than male ghosts."

Jin Caiwei chose not to delve further into that topic.

"You just mentioned that the black market legend wasn't your doing. What exactly is going on? Did I purchase the wrong projection orb?" Mr. Shi wouldn't dare say the Young Ancestor had made a mistake; that would be akin to adding fuel to a fire, a sure way to invite trouble.

Instead of answering directly, he retrieved a projection orb from his storage ring.

"This very orb is the one that brings misfortune," he explained. "I watched its contents once and suffered bad luck for several days!" Mr. Shi admitted, a touch of fear in his voice. Even a distinguished Golden Core stage cultivator like himself had fallen victim.

"My case was still mild. Those with lower cultivation levels experienced continuous misfortune after viewing it. I've also heard that these projection orbs are not only appearing in Jin'an City but in other cities as well."

"Although Jin'an Temple and various temples across the region are collecting them on a large scale, they haven't been able to fully eradicate them. The most troubling aspect is that some people refuse to believe in the hex and insist on watching them."

"Such a thing exists," Lu Yang murmured, frowning. This was no small matter.

Lu Yang took the projection orb, infused it with spiritual energy, and activated its playback.

Initially, the projection orb's display was blank. Then, a ghastly female ghost suddenly emerged from below, looking exceptionally terrifying.

Lu Yang could feel a subtle force attempting to ensnare him, but his immortal physique, condensed from karmic merit, automatically repelled and purified it. This same force was also attempting to entangle Mr. Shi, which Lu Yang promptly purified as well.

"Indeed, this is a curse," Lu Yang stated as the blue lotus on his white robe emerged, transforming into Qing He.

Although Mr. Shi did not recognize Qing He, he dared not ask any further questions.

"Just as I initially suspected," Qing He commented, "the projection can transmit additional content, thereby allowing for the casting of curses whose effect is to diminish one's luck." Among everyone present, she alone possessed the most profound understanding of curses.

"Without knowledge of curses, even Golden Core stage cultivators can fall victim," Qing He continued. "Furthermore, this female ghost is merely a symbol; she isn't a real entity."

Lu Yang nodded. For a curse to affect Golden Core stage cultivators, its sophistication was undeniably high.

While Golden Core cultivators might seem common in the Wen Dao Sect, and Lu Yang himself fought a half-step Golden Core tiger demon during his Foundation Establishment stage debut, in reality, over ninety-nine percent of cultivators never reach the Golden Core stage. A small city might not even possess five Golden Core cultivators.

"It seems we need to thoroughly investigate the source of this curse," Lu Yang stated. If curses are being disseminated through projection orbs, countless individuals are likely to be affected.

"We haven't been able to trace it," Mr. Shi confided in Lu Yang. "I reported this matter to my superiors long ago, but they also have no leads. They attempted to backtrack the source using the cursed projection orbs, but these orbs have passed through countless hands, particularly through repeated resales in the black market. The origin has long since become untraceable."

"Untraceable?" Lu Yang mused to himself, "What about using the power of rules to find the source?" He then shook his head, dismissing the idea.

These cursed projection orbs are different from life-buying money.

The power of rules has a limited range. Daoist Yu is in Jin'an City, which is very close to the ancestral temple and within that range. However, this time, it's clear that the entire Buddhist nation has been affected, making the use of rule power impractical.

"Young Cult Master, do you have a solution?" Jin Caiwei asked anxiously. Since the curses were being cast through the Qiongqi clan's projection orbs, she felt a degree of responsibility. Yet, despite the Qiongqi clan having already commenced investigations, they had yielded no results, and she herself could not conceive of a way forward.

Indeed, they were completely at a loss, unsure where to even begin.

"I have a method," Lu Yang confirmed with a nod.

"From what Mr. Shi said, there's a considerable number of cursed projection orbs circulating in the black market right now."

"That's correct."

Lu Yang smiled. "That makes things much simpler. Since the culprits produced such a massive quantity of these projection orbs, it implies they must have acquired them in bulk. And to purchase projection orbs, they could only have done so from your Qiongqi clan, through designated city sales points like Mr. Shi's."

"Therefore, we simply need to investigate who purchased a large quantity of projection orbs from the Qiongqi clan around the time the cursed orbs began to appear, and we will be able to identify our target."