119: Chapter 119 Bloodline Curse and Entrustment of a Remnant Soul

"Latecomer... finally... I have waited for you..."

"The successor... flowing with... the orthodox blood of the Lord of the Underworld..."

The Aged One's stone face, formed from ancient patterns on the tombstone, emitted a consciousness filled with the vicissitudes of ten thousand years and a hint of excitement at finally meeting him. However, this excitement lasted only a moment. When its "gaze" passed over Lin Chen and fell upon Su Qingyu, who was half a step behind him, that weary consciousness suddenly shook violently, like a giant boulder being thrown into a calm lake!

"Wait! On your body...!" The stone face's consciousness became sharp, filled with disbelief and a deep sense of dread. "How can there be... 'her'... Bloodline Curse?! This is impossible! 'Her' bloodline was severed long ago! Why would it appear on a living person?!"

"Bloodline Curse?!"

These four words were like ice picks, instantly piercing everyone's hearts!

Su Qingyu's delicate body trembled violently, and her face turned as pale as paper in an instant! She instinctively clutched her chest, feeling an inexplicable chill surge from the depths of her soul. A curse? She had a curse on her? And what was 'her' Bloodline Curse? What exactly was going on?

Zhang Hao was also startled, nearly jumping up from where he stood (even though he was floating). Little Red Clothes hugged her doll tightly, her pale eyes also filled with shock and suspicion.

Lin Chen's gaze suddenly sharpened, and he stepped in front of Su Qingyu to shield her. His eyes shot toward the stone face like knife blades, his voice icy: "Explain clearly! Who is 'she'? What Bloodline Curse?"

The stone face's consciousness fluctuated violently, seemingly caught in some chaotic memory and immense shock. It "stared" fixedly at Su Qingyu as if trying to see right through her.

"It is the 'Netherworld Saintess'... that fallen one who betrayed the Lord of the Underworld and deeply fused her own bloodline with the 'source of a thousand faces'!" The stone face's consciousness carried bone-deep hatred and a trace of fear. "Her bloodline contains the most vicious and hidden 'Assimilation Curse'! Those who carry this curse appear no different from ordinary people and can even move through the Netherworld's aura like a fish in water... but once they get close to the core of the Lord of the Underworld's authority, or come into contact with sufficiently pure Nether Lord Bloodline..."

The stone face's voice became incredibly solemn and bone-chilling here:

"...the curse will be fully activated! In a very short time, the host will be forcibly transformed into a vessel for the descent of the 'Netherworld Saintess'! Or... they will directly explode and die, their soul essence becoming nourishment to feed the 'source of a thousand faces'!"

"What?!" Su Qingyu felt as if she had been struck by lightning. She staggered back a step, her entire body turning cold! She... she was actually a "vessel" and "nourishment" prepared for someone else?!

Zhang Hao sucked in a breath of cold air: "Holy crap! That's so insidious?!"

Lin Chen's expression also completely darkened. He remembered that when Su Qingyu was in the living world, she was just an ordinary, somewhat aloof girl. But after entering the Netherworld, she seemed to adapt to the environment exceptionally fast, even quickly learning how to use nether talisman energy... It turned out all of this might be because of this damn curse at work! This curse was like a time bomb buried inside her, and he, with his "Nether Lord Bloodline," was the detonator!

"Why... why me?" Su Qingyu's voice trembled, filled with despair and resentment.

"Because your soul's traits... are the most compatible with that fallen Saintess..." The stone face's tone carried a hint of pity. "This curse was not applied later in life, but... passed down through generations, hidden deep within the bloodline, only erupting when it encounters a specific trigger... You are the last descendant of that particular bloodline..."

A hereditary curse! Su Qingyu felt the world spinning. So from the moment she was born, her fate had already been sealed? To become a vessel for a monster?

"How do we break it?" Lin Chen asked the most critical question directly, his tone brook no argument. He didn't care about any Saintess or thousand-year curse; in his eyes, there was no problem that couldn't be solved with money (nether talismans)!

"Difficult! Difficult! Difficult!" The stone face said the word 'difficult' three times. "This curse is essentially linked to the 'source of a thousand faces,' nearly becoming a rule itself! Unless the 'source of a thousand faces' can be completely annihilated, or... the 'samsara seal' left by the First Generation Underworld Lord is found, using the complete authority of the Lord of the Underworld to forcibly rewrite this curse rule!"

Annihilate the source of a thousand faces? That was likely a terrifying existence on the same level as the "God of a Thousand Faces"; how could that be easy! Finding the samsara seal? That was even more remote!

Hope seemed incredibly slim.

Su Qingyu's eyes dimmed, filled with bitterness.

But Lin Chen caught the key information—"complete authority of the Lord of the Underworld" and "rewriting the rules"!

"In other words, as long as my clearance is high enough and my power is strong enough, I can directly override this bullshit curse, right?" An amazing light flickered in Lin Chen's eyes.

The stone face froze for a moment, seemingly stunned by Lin Chen's simple and crude way of understanding, but it had to admit: "Theoretically... theoretically so... but it requires unimaginable authority and power..."

"Then it's possible." Lin Chen interrupted it directly, his tone resolute. "That's enough."

He turned to look at the pale Su Qingyu, his tone calm but carrying a power that could settle one's heart: "Did you hear that? You won't die. It's nothing more than a matter of how many nether talismans I have to pay... I mean, consume. Until I've saved up enough 'money,' just stay with me and don't touch any weird stuff."

He said this as if it were completely natural, as if the vicious curse that had troubled people for untold ages was just a technical problem that required a bit more budget.

Su Qingyu looked at his calm and confident profile, feeling that unquestionable certainty. The coldness and despair in her heart were actually dispelled quite a bit, and a warm current quietly surged to the tip of her nose. She nodded vigorously: "Mhm!"

Zhang Hao watched from the side with a wide grin, screaming in his heart: "Boss is awesome! I give this act a perfect score!"

Having settled Su Qingyu's problem (at least for the time being, in Lin Chen's view), Lin Chen turned his gaze back to the stone face: "Alright, enough small talk. Who are you? Why were you waiting for me? And what's the deal with the 'source of a thousand faces' and the 'Netherworld Saintess'? Tell me everything you know that's useful."

The stone face reined in the violent fluctuations caused by the curse, becoming weary and weathered once more.

"I... am just a wisp of a remnant soul about to dissipate, attached to this 'Boundary Stone' that records the ancient covenants of the Netherworld." The stone face's consciousness carried endless loneliness. "I was once... the Judge in charge of 'Contracts and Oaths' under the First Generation Underworld Lord... You may call me the 'Tombstone Guardian'."

A Judge! And one under the First Generation Underworld Lord! He certainly had a significant background!

"In the great war that led to the collapse of the Netherworld back then, that greedy thief, the 'source of a thousand faces,' allied with the traitorous 'Netherworld Saintess' and her clan. They attacked the Lord of the Underworld from both inside and out..." The Tombstone Guardian's consciousness was filled with grief and pain. "The Lord of the Underworld was outnumbered and eventually forced to shatter his authority, scattering it everywhere... And I, at the last moment, took this Boundary Stone which records part of the truth and the covenants, and fled to this forgotten land of chaotic rules to linger on... just to wait for the true successor to arrive, and hand over this responsiblity/truth/legacy to him..."

(Responsibility/Truth/Legacy)

""

Its consciousness grew weak here, and the cracks on the stone face seemed to be widening.

"My time... is running out... Successor, come closer... accept my final... information flow/authority fragments/coordinates..."

(Information flow/Authority fragments/Coordinates)

""

The Tombstone Guardian's voice grew weaker and weaker, and the stone face began to blur as if it would dissipate at any moment.

Without any hesitation, Lin Chen stepped forward and pressed his hand against the cold Boundary Stone.

Immediately, a massive and chaotic stream of information, mixed with an incredibly pure fragment of authority carrying the power of ancient contracts and several shimmering spatial coordinates, surged into Lin Chen's mind like a flood!

Among them were scattered records about the nature of the "source of a thousand faces" (a chaotic existence that longed to devour and assimilate everything to perfect itself), fragmented images of the Netherworld Saintess's betrayal, maps of parts of the Ancient Netherworld and important nodes (including several forbidden zones where the "samsara seal" was suspected to be), and even several brightly glowing coordinates labeled as "Secret Treasuries left by the First Generation Underworld Lord"!

This information was too vast; Lin Chen needed time to slowly digest it.

When he finished receiving the information and withdrew his palm, the stone face on the Boundary Stone was almost transparent.

"Be careful... 'she' may... have already awakened... in the shadows... setting her board..."

"Gather the authority... retake the Netherworld... stop... the final... assimilation..."

"Quick... leave... they... are coming..."

The Tombstone Guardian's final intermittent consciousness came through, carrying endless entrustment and warning. Then, the stone face completely dissipated, and the Boundary Stone returned to its original deathly silent, crack-filled state. That faint homologous signal also disappeared.

"Boss, it..." Su Qingyu looked at Lin Chen with concern.

Lin Chen closed his eyes to quickly organize the information in his mind. A few seconds later, he snapped his eyes open, his gaze bright!

"Go!"

Without hesitation, he turned around immediately.

"Huh? Leaving already? Who did it say was coming?" Zhang Hao hadn't reacted yet.

Just then—

BOOM!!!

From the direction they had come, in the thick fog on the other side of the River of Oblivion, an earth-shattering explosion suddenly rang out! A pressure far more terrifying than any previous enemy, carrying pure "Thousand Faces" filth and a certain cold Saintess aura, swept over like a tsunami! Even the black earth beneath their feet shook violently!

Vaguely, a phantom of a flesh mass filled with countless crying faces and a phantom of a woman in dark palace attire with a blurred face appeared on the other side of the thick fog!

It was the power of the "source of a thousand faces" and the aura of the "Netherworld Saintess"! They had really been drawn here! And faster than expected! And stronger!

"Damn! They're really here!" Zhang Hao shrieked.

"Ferryman!" Lin Chen shouted toward the River of Oblivion.

The temporarily requisitioned Ferryman immediately rowed the boat over, moving several times faster than when they arrived, clearly sensing that terrifying threat as well.

Everyone quickly boarded the boat. The Ferryman pushed the pole with all his might, and the small boat shot toward the opposite bank like an arrow from a bow!

Behind them, the terrifying pressure pursued relentlessly. The grayish-yellow water of the River of Oblivion began to boil violently, and countless lost souls let out screams of terror!

(Hook: Just as the small boat was about to reach the shore, a gray beam of light containing extreme filth and coldness, as if crossing space, suddenly shot from behind, aimed directly at—Su Qingyu!)