Chapter 405: Seven Emotions Valley's Business

The man in the white paper hat fled. Lu Yang and Zhao Po knew he wasn't someone they could catch, so they didn't dwell on it.

Zhao Po took out a small gong and tapped it gently, producing a pleasant sound. "This is how my friend and I communicate," Zhao Po said. "If she’s in the valley, she should come out to meet us soon."

Before long, a slender woman emerged from Seven Emotions Valley. Her eyes brightened slightly when she saw Zhao Po, but she quickly hid her joy. Then, in a slightly disdainful tone, she asked, "What kind of curse have you fallen under this time?"

Zhao Po didn't mind her tone. He smiled slightly and introduced, "This is my newly befriended acquaintance, Lu Yang of the Dao Inquiry Sect. He has something he needs the Valley Master's help with." Zhao Po continued, "And this is Luo Yu, a true disciple of Seven Emotions Valley. Her master is the Valley Master of Seven Emotions Valley."

"Lu Yang?!" Luo Yu was startled when she heard his name. "Are you the Lu Yang who won first place at the Qingzhou Grand Ceremony and then, not satisfied, even beat the judges?"

Lu Yang felt he had many virtues and didn't need to be famous in such a way. "I have a friend who is afflicted with an unspeakable and very difficult-to-resolve curse," Lu Yang explained. "I'd like to ask the Valley Master for help."

Luo Yu looked at Lu Yang with a slightly pitying gaze, thinking, "Another cursed person claiming to have a friend."

"My master is about to come out of seclusion, but whether she'll be willing to help you break the curse is hard to say," Luo Yu said. "Please, come in first."

"It’s not me, it’s a friend of mine," Lu Yang corrected.

"I understand perfectly."

The two followed Luo Yu through the formation entrance and entered Seven Emotions Valley.

"By the way, do you have someone named Xie Shanren in your Dao Inquiry Sect?" Luo Yu suddenly asked.

"Yes, Xie Shanren is our Fourth Elder," Lu Yang replied. "Is there a problem?"

The Fourth Elder rarely left the sect, so outsiders didn't know his name.

"There is a slight issue," Luo Yu began. "When my master was young, she fell for a man named Xie Shanren. They met by chance, and my master fell in love with him at first sight. They often sat and discussed the Dao, enjoying lively conversations. My master even taught him methods to break curses, hoping to prove her sincerity. Unfortunately, Xie Shanren ultimately did not accept her good intentions. He abandoned my master, left Barren State, and returned to the Dao Inquiry Sect.”

"Judging by how my master constantly speaks of Xie Shanren, she still hasn't let him go. Whether it's still love or love turned to hatred, I can't be sure.”

Lu Yang broke into a cold sweat upon hearing this.

No wonder, despite Seven Emotions Valley being the most skilled sect in curses in Barren State, the Fourth Elder hadn't recommended them to come here. Instead, he had suggested they go to the Corpse Herding Sect. So this was the reason.

But now that he had already entered Seven Emotions Valley, leaving now would be somewhat awkward. He hoped the Valley Master would be magnanimous and not hold it against him, a junior disciple of the Dao Inquiry Sect.

Lu Yang felt he had sacrificed too much to solve Meng Jingzhou's curse. Even a father couldn't do more.

"Do friends all like to act as each other’s elders?" the Immortal Fairy asked Lu Yang, seemingly recalling something.

"Not all," Lu Yang replied, "but some do."

"I see."

"Did the Fairy think of something?" Lu Yang asked.

The Fairy nodded, revealing a simple, honest smile. "The first time I cooked for Immortal Qilin, he called me 'Mama'," she said. "It turns out he considered me a friend. It seems eating really does foster relationships.”

The Immortal Fairy’s smile was beautiful, much more pleasing to the eye than the cold senior sister’s. But Lu Yang hadn’t known her just a day, so he wasn't fooled by her innocent smile.

"Tell me exactly what happened," Lu Yang urged.

"After I defeated Immortal Ying Tian and Immortal Qilin in a challenge despite being at a lower level, I felt bad about it, so I invited them to eat," she explained. "At first, they were very wary of me, thinking I intended to poison them. But then they saw my smooth cooking process and no signs of poison, so they finally relaxed and started eating.”

"Immortal Qilin took a bite of food, cried out ‘Mama,’ and then fainted," she continued. "Perhaps he was too weak to handle the nourishment.”

"Immortal Ying Tian also fainted."

"Immortal Qilin was born from the convergence of heaven and earth's luck, without parents. He must have hallucinated me as his mother.” The Immortal Fairy gently shook her head, thinking Immortal Qilin was a pitiable person.

Lu Yang suspected that Immortal Qilin might have actually tried to exclaim "Mother, it's poisonous!" but only managed to utter one word before passing out, leading to the Immortal Fairy’s misunderstanding. Later generations found it difficult to judge the strengths of the young Immortals, but Lu Yang had his own method. Judging by Immortal Qilin being able to utter one word while Immortal Ying Tian couldn't say a single one, Immortal Qilin's cultivation must have been superior.

In reality, the three walked through Seven Emotions Valley. Lu Yang saw many people entering the inner parts of the valley seeking help to break curses, all of which were complex issues that the disciples stationed at the entrance couldn't resolve.

"Curse Master, every night when I meditate, I always hear the buzzing of mosquitoes in my ears, and my body gets unbearably itchy," a man asked. "I heard you've developed a new type of curse with precisely these effects. Have I been afflicted with this curse?”

"Fellow Daoist, our Seven Emotions Valley has indeed developed such a curse," a disciple replied. "However, in my opinion, there are no signs of you being cursed. Furthermore, you have mosquito bites on your exposed skin. It seems there are genuinely mosquitoes around you.”

"I don’t believe it!" the man retorted. "You must have cursed me."

The Seven Emotions Valley disciple sighed softly. Such a curse was extremely expensive; why would anyone use it on someone with such low cultivation? "Very well," the disciple said. "Take this item. If you place it by your side during your seclusion, you won't experience the curse again.”

"What is this?" the man asked.

"Mosquito coils," the disciple replied. "Three hundred spirit stones per coil."

"Curse Master, from childhood to now, no female cultivators have ever liked me," another person asked. "Every time I confess to them, they reject me, without exception. My peers are all married, and I don't even have a girlfriend. Am I cursed?”

"Fellow Daoist, your situation is not due to a curse," a disciple explained. "Your personal charm is unquestionable; what you lack is merely spirit stones. Our Seven Emotions Valley offers lending services. Would you like to borrow spirit stones from us? The annual interest rate is only twenty percent?”

"Curse Master, recently, after killing someone, the bloody image of the deceased before their death keeps appearing to me," a man recounted. "They roar that they will curse me to have no peace. I still have nightmares where the deceased, bleeding, crawls towards me to claim my life. It scares me so much I don't dare to sleep.”

"Recently, a chill runs down my spine, and I feel like someone is following me," he continued. "But when I turn my head, there's nothing there.”

"When I'm cultivating in seclusion, I occasionally hear eerie laughter in my ears, as if mocking my distress," he added. "I flee in a panic, but the sound continues to echo in my ears.”

"Sometimes a red figure appears before my eyes, but when I rub them and look closely, the red figure vanishes.”

"Am I cursed?" he pleaded.

The Seven Emotions Valley disciple saw the man's darkened forehead, swollen eyes, and frightened gaze. He nodded gently, rare to encounter someone genuinely cursed. "You are indeed cursed," he said, "and with an extremely difficult-to-resolve Vengeful Death Curse.”

"Is there a solution?" the man asked hopefully.

"Naturally, there is. There’s no curse our Seven Emotions Valley cannot break," the disciple affirmed. "However, this curse is too difficult for me to undo. Wait here while I call my senior brother for help.”

Before long, the Seven Emotions Valley disciple called over his senior brother, pointed at the man, and said, "Senior Brother, this is the murderer. I can't defeat him alone. Let's work together to escort him to the authorities!"