Chapter 83: Method to Break the Curse

The woman's death cast a heavy shadow over everyone, a gloom that only deepened when even a terrifyingly powerful expert like Su Mu proved unable to destroy the Statue.

Aside from the woman and Su Mu, two others present were afflicted with the Angel Curse and bore burn marks on their skin. Staring at the woman's gruesome remains, their expressions turned increasingly grim, as though looking at their own imminent fate.

"Huh! My rot seems to have gotten a bit better!" the Daoist priest Jun Wushang suddenly exclaimed, lifting his robes to reveal his festering belly. The flesh, previously entirely rotten, had actually recovered quite a bit; the rotting area had noticeably shrunk.

The others hurriedly checked their own bodies.

"Mine too! The rotting area shrank!"

"Hey, me too! My entire leg was rotting a moment ago, but now my thigh is fine. Only my calf is still rotting."

"What exactly is going on?" Jun Wushang asked in pleasant surprise. "Did Mr. Su's attack just now take effect?"

"Wait, that's not right. Why haven't my burns improved?"

"Mine haven't either. In fact, they've gotten worse."

Su Mu narrowed his eyes. Observing the changes among the group, he now clearly understood how the curse worked.

He closely watched their expressions and noticed that a few others had already figured it out as well.

The two men afflicted with the Angel Curse exchanged a glance. Seeming to realize something, they paled drastically. They quickly hid their panic, however, communicating through subtle looks while occasionally throwing glances at the ecstatic people afflicted by the Demonic Curse.

They reacted quickly, but someone else was even faster.

Boom!

A pair of iron fists glinting with a metallic luster suddenly appeared right behind one of the men's heads. Bang! Before he could even react, his head exploded. He collapsed to the ground as a headless corpse.

The remaining man's expression changed drastically. "Tie Feng, you—"

Before he could finish, a vicious gust of wind struck from his right. The attacker was none other than the dark-skinned dwarf.

At some point, the dwarf's right hand had transformed into a tiger claw covered in red-and-black fur. Its sharp nails glinted with a cold light. With a single strike, it ripped away most of the flesh from the man's neck, sending blood spraying into the air.

The man's eyes bulged with rage, but he couldn't force out a single word. He collapsed heavily to the ground.

The sudden attack by Tie Feng and the dwarf left everyone pale. They hurriedly backed away from the two, their faces filled with shock and fury.

"Tie Feng! Xie Quan! What are you two doing?! Why did you just kill them?" someone shouted. The crowd glared at the pair, looking as though they would swarm them if they didn't provide a reasonable explanation.

Tie Feng let out a cold sneer. "Idiots! Look at your own rotting flesh before you start asking questions."

The crowd's expressions shifted slightly, and they began checking their rot again.

"My rot shrank again! It's less than half its original size now, and it's still slowly healing!"

"What exactly is going on? Why did their deaths heal our curse?"

"Could it be..." A few of the sharper individuals had already realized the crux of the issue, their eyes locked onto the corpses on the ground.

Clap, clap, clap...

A slow applause rang out from nearby. Su Mu walked over, his face filled with praise. "The decisiveness of you two is truly admirable. The moment you realized the method to break the curse, you launched a surprise attack without a second of hesitation. Splendid!"

Seeing that it was Su Mu speaking, all traces of ferocity vanished from Tie Feng's face. Like a fierce tiger turning into a docile kitten, he put on a fawning expression. "You flatter me, Mr. Su. I just wanted to help everyone break the curse. Those two weren't weak; if we had let them launch a sneak attack first, even more people might have died."

"Su Mu, what exactly is going on?" Yang Dongqing walked over, looking a bit sick. He couldn't quite accept that people who had been teammates just moments ago were suddenly slaughtering each other.

Su Mu smiled faintly and explained, "Angels and demons are naturally opposed. This Statue is the Divine and Demonic Dual Phase, and it has reached a delicate balance where neither side can emerge victorious.

"Because of this, an external force is required. In reality, the so-called curses are merely dividing us into factions. Those afflicted with the Angel Curse are Angel Believers, while the rest are Demon Believers. I'm guessing the angel and the demon are using this method to determine a winner, using the curses to force the two factions to slaughter one another."

A flash of realization crossed Yang Dongqing's eyes, though his expression remained grim. "I see. But neither this angel nor this demon is anything good. To be this cruel..."

"Wait! Something's wrong!" the dwarf named Xie Quan suddenly shrieked, lifting his shirt. A patch of rotting flesh still remained on his chest.

"Why hasn't the rot disappeared completely? We've clearly killed all the Angel Believers."

Tie Feng was equally alarmed. Upon checking himself, he found the exact same issue: one last patch of rot had yet to vanish.

"That's impossible! Is this not the way to break the curse?"

The crowd, who had just been immersed in joy, instantly grew gloomy once more.

Su Mu furrowed his brows and walked to the front of the group. "The method to break the curse should be correct. Since it hasn't completely disappeared, there's only one possibility!"

"What possibility?" someone asked urgently.

"There's still an Angel Believer among us," Su Mu said, his gaze sweeping across the crowd like lightning, as if trying to root out the final Angel Believer.

The crowd paled in shock at his words. Everyone began sizing up the people around them with suspicious eyes. A few cautious individuals even quietly backed away, putting some distance between themselves and the rest.

"How is that possible? Mr. Su, everyone left should be a Demon Believer," Tie Feng said. His face was filled with astonishment, as if he couldn't quite believe it.

Su Mu's expression grew increasingly grave. "Perhaps someone among us lied. Despite being an Angel Believer, they falsely claimed to be afflicted with the Demonic Curse."

Tie Feng's expression darkened. He swept his murderous gaze across everyone besides Su Mu. "Who?! Whoever lied, step out right now, and I might just leave you an intact corpse!"

"Everyone, reveal your wounds. Tie Feng, inspect them," Su Mu ordered in an unquestionable tone.

Under the oppressive presence of an expert, everyone obediently lifted their clothes to reveal the final small patch of rotting flesh on their bodies. Sweeping his falcon-like gaze over them, Tie Feng inspected them one by one. He found that everyone indeed bore rot, meaning they were undoubtedly Demon Believers.

"That's not right, Mr. Su. They're all Demon..." Tie Feng's words trailed off. His pupils shrank abruptly. Staring at Su Mu in disbelief, he subconsciously took a step back.

He wasn't the only one to realize it; the others caught on as well. They looked at Su Mu in horror and began to back away.

Su Mu had suggested inspecting everyone else, but from beginning to end, nobody had inspected Su Mu...