42: Chapter 42 The Sealed Curse, First Attempt to Suppress It

On the high platform, the female auctioneer's professional fake smile was about to slip, and she was preparing to announce that the item had failed to sell.

A calm voice, transmitted through the amplification spirit tool in Private Room No. 3, rang clearly across the entire venue.

"One hundred thousand gold coins."

Swish! In an instant, the eyes of everyone present, whether in the main hall or in the private rooms, all focused in unison on the room from which the voice had come.

Those gazes were filled with astonishment and confusion.

Who is this guy?

Is he in such a rush to reincarnate?

Inside the private room, Xuan Zi turned his head abruptly, his old eyes filled with shock; half of his drunkenness had faded away.

"Xiao Chen, you..." He spoke in a strained voice, almost thinking he had misheard.

Su Chen slowly turned his head to meet the horrified gazes of Xuan Zi and his companions.

He did not offer a long-winded explanation, but simply said in an incomparably sincere and serious tone:

"Elder Xuan, trust me."

"I am determined to get this item. I will explain it to you later."

Looking at Su Chen's firm gaze, the bellyful of questions Xuan Zi had prepared suddenly got stuck in his throat.

This kid... he was serious.

He wasn't joking, nor was he acting on impulse.

Xuan Zi froze for a moment, then silently picked up the large wine gourd on the table and took a huge gulp.

"Sigh..." A long sigh escaped him, carrying a hint of helplessness and a touch of compromise.

"You kid, be careful."

On the high platform, the female auctioneer wept with joy.

As if afraid that someone might go back on their word, she spoke at an astonishing speed.

"One hundred thousand gold coins, going once!"

"One hundred thousand gold coins, going twice!"

"One hundred thousand gold coins, going three times!"

"Clang!" The hammer fell.

"Sold!"

The female auctioneer's voice was decisive, filled with the relief of a settled matter.

"Congratulations to the distinguished guest in Private Room No. 3. This 'spirit devouring carving knife' now belongs to you!"

As her voice fell, the atmosphere in the venue became even stranger.

Gazes were still fixed tightly on Private Room No. 3. In those eyes, besides shock, there was now a hint of pity, as if looking at a fool.

This highly anticipated auction ended hastily in such a strange and oppressive atmosphere.

Inside the private room.

Everyone stared with wide eyes, looking at Su Chen as if he were a monster.

Xuan Zi opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but looking at Su Chen's calm profile, all his words eventually turned into a helpless sigh.

Resigned, he picked up his wine gourd and took a few more big gulps.

Forget it, forget it. Children and grandchildren have their own fortunes; let this kid do whatever he wants.

"Knock, knock, knock."

Not long after, the door to the private room was gently knocked.

A waiter pushed a small cart inside. On the cart sat a pitch-black metal box covered in complex seal patterns that made one's heart shudder just by looking at it.

The waiter carefully placed the box on the floor and then, as if avoiding a plague, quickly retreated.

Almost at the same time, everyone else in the room, including Xuan Zi, subconsciously took two steps back, keeping their distance from the box.

Only Su Chen remained calm as water, with no trace of fear on his face.

He stood up slowly and walked over to the metal box that was exuding an ominous aura.

Under everyone's nervous gaze, he simply waved his hand casually.

"Hum—!" A flash of light appeared.

The seemingly heavy metal box vanished into thin air, having been stored away into his storage spirit tool. The entire movement was smooth and flowing.

On the way back to the hotel, the atmosphere was even more awkward than at the auction.

No one spoke.

Shrek's companions would occasionally steal glances at Su Chen with the look one gives a "foolish son of a wealthy landlord."

Xuan Zi walked at the very front, his back looking lonely. He never put down the large wine gourd in his hand, gulping down wine the entire way.

It seemed that if he didn't get himself drunk, he couldn't face the frustrating fact of having spent one hundred thousand gold coins to buy a death warrant.

Upon reaching the hotel, Xuan Zi finally stopped and looked back at Su Chen.

"Everyone, get some rest early."

He waved his hand and turned to return to his room.

The others dispersed as well, each giving Su Chen a look that said "you're on your own" before leaving.

Su Chen shrugged, looking indifferent as he walked to the end of the hallway, where his room was located.

"Click." The door closed, shutting out everything from the outside world.

Su Chen did not turn on the lights.

He stood in the center of the room; in the darkness, only the moonlight filtering in from the window outlined his silhouette.

With a thought, the pitch-black metal box appeared out of thin air and landed silently on the soft carpet.

The moment the box appeared, hiss—the temperature in the room plummeted, as if going from summer to winter in a single second.

A bone-chilling cold permeated from the box, seeping into one's very bones.

Following that, an eerie aura began to spread.

The aura was filled with resentment and unwillingness, as if countless vengeful spirits were roaring and screaming inside the box.

Hum, hum, hum... On the surface of the metal box, the complex seal patterns began to flicker on and off.

However, facing this scene, Su Chen's expression did not change. Instead, the corners of his mouth curled slightly upward.

Everything was under control.

He extended his right hand, curled his index finger slightly, and then flicked it.

"Crackle."

A wisp of pale purple lightning quietly lit up at his fingertip.

The lightning was only an inch long, yet it seemed to contain a whole world.

Deep within the lightning, gray Chaos Qi flowed, and the five-colored brilliance of gold, wood, water, fire, and earth intertwined, sometimes fierce and overbearing, sometimes full of vitality.

This was the unique power of Su Chen's Spirit, the Chaos Thunder Dragon.

A primordial force that transcended ordinary elements, where creation and destruction coexisted.

It was also the ultimate nemesis of all evil and baleful auras.

Su Chen's expression remained unchanged as he controlled that wisp of seemingly tiny but actually terrifying lightning at his fingertip, slowly pressing it toward the metal box on the floor.

This was both a test and a form of containment.

He wanted to see what this so-called "spirit devouring carving knife" was really made of.

Just at the moment when the pale purple lightning touched the side of the box, "Hum—!" The entire metal box shuddered violently as if struck by divine lightning from the nine heavens!

"Roar!!!" A roar that did not sound human, filled with endless resentment and pain, exploded from inside the box, sharp and piercing, as if it could pierce a person's soul.

The next second, hiss, hiss, hiss! Thick, ink-like black mist surged out madly from the gaps in the box's surface like a breached flood, transforming into a hideous ghost claw that lunged straight for Su Chen's face.

However, when this fiercely violent ghost claw touched the wisp of five-colored lightning at Su Chen's fingertip, "Sizzle—"

The black mist was instantly burned and evaporated, not even leaving a wisp of smoke behind. The shrill roar became even more frantic.

"Creak... creak..." Under the collision of the two forces, the metal box let out an unbearable groan.