Chapter 101: Cause and Effect

"I was terrified and wanted to run, but my body wouldn't obey me. That was when I realized the methods the old man had been teaching me weren't for practicing hex sorcery at all. He was just preparing to refine me into an obedient human puppet."

"I still remember the first thing the old man ever said to me. He held up two human heads and asked, 'Which one do you think is prettier?'"

Song Wenxuan mimicked his tone perfectly. I shuddered and pressed, "Then what happened?"

"The old man knew I would be coming. While I was away on business, he had already taken control of many patients. He even had believers among the nurses and orderlies. In everyone's eyes, he was omnipotent."

"If he's so capable, why would he lie low in a psychiatric hospital for over a year? What's his goal?" I interrupted.

Song Wenxuan lowered his head. "It's all my fault. This is all my fault. The old man's origins are impossible to trace. All I know is that while practicing the flying skull sorcery, his technique was broken by a Daoist priest surnamed Liu. His vitality was severely damaged, and he fled in a panic. Out of desperation, he disguised himself as an ordinary person and slipped into the hospital."

"It's laughable that I thought I had met an enlightened master. In reality, he was nothing more than a cultivator practicing the evil arts."

"With my help, he slowly recovered his strength. But the man was insatiably greedy. Once he realized the psychiatric hospital was a perfect place for his cultivation, he didn't rush to leave. Instead, he set his sights on the patients."

"The hex sorcery art has many different branches. Among them, the one with the bloodiest cultivation process and the most devastating power once mastered is the flying skull sorcery!"

"The skull detaches and flies out, trailing its intestines and stomach. It requires a blood sacrifice for forty-nine days, allowing essence blood to wash over the entrails. It must pass through seven layers of progression before it can reach full mastery."

"It is an extremely dark and wicked technique that involves killing and committing grave sins. But to match that, it grants immense power. The old man can control the minds of three or four people simultaneously. He can also cast hexes from a distance, causing people to die suddenly out in the wilderness."

"When I entered the isolation ward that day, the old man had already perfected the fourth layer. He could send his skull flying and roam the night with ghosts. But he wasn't satisfied. In order to completely turn the psychiatric hospital into his own sacred cultivation ground, he targeted me."

"He wanted me to actively cooperate, to provide him with patients and find suitable targets. Though I had done many unethical things in the name of my experiments before, I at least still had a basic bottom line as a human being."

"I refused. Then, he pulled out a human puppet woven from my own hair from under the bed. That was the medium for his hex. Even though it was only the size of a thumb, he could easily control my mind with it."

"But my status was different from the others he had hexed. I wasn't a patient, nor was I a temporary orderly. I was the hospital director. I needed to attend many outside events, so he didn't dare kill me or completely wipe out my will."

"Because of that, he came up with a wildly malicious method." Song Wenxuan offered a miserable smile. "He controlled my mind and forced me to brutally beat my beloved wife. He even took over my body to force himself on her. He tore my family apart and drove my child insane, but he still wasn't satisfied."

"When a person suffers a heavy blow and loses their will, they are much easier to control. To thoroughly destroy me, he committed the most heinous act imaginable."

"As you already know, he killed Xiaoyao right in front of my wife." Song Wenxuan's previously calm face twitched slightly. Even after so many days, recalling the memory still felt incredibly vivid to him. "He was the one who did it, not me..."

His voice grew quieter and quieter. When I stepped closer, I noticed a drop of moisture hanging from the corner of his eye. I didn't want to believe it was a tear; I'd rather believe I saw it wrong.

"To force me to submit, he restricted my movements, recorded the slaughter on video, and forced me to watch it over and over again."

"After watching it so many times, I grew numb." Song Wenxuan looked up. "The strongest part of a person can never be a physical organ, but rather the invisible yet truly existing mind."

"Perhaps this is karma. When I was abroad, I tried using external methods to test the limits of human mental endurance. After the old man controlled my mind, I have been subjected to the fiercest interrogation of humanity every single day."

"Controlling a mind also takes a toll on the old man. He can't maintain it for more than six hours a day. So in the public eye, I could only appear for six hours. The rest of the time, he kept me locked in the ward."

"Back then, I secretly hoped someone would notice something was wrong and call the police. Even if they ended up shooting me, I would have accepted it."

"Unfortunately, things didn't go as planned. At the end of last year, a strange guest came to the old man's isolation ward. He wasn't very old. The left side of his face was fair and handsome, but the right side was covered in burn scars."

"They both wore a Buddha Head Pendant. From their conversation, they had known each other for a long time."

"At the young man's suggestion, they decided to move the psychiatric hospital to the Southern Suburbs, building it right on top of the original Henshan Prison."

"I don't know why they did it, but ever since the relocation, the old man has been completely unbridled. The entire hospital was locked down, and outsiders were strictly forbidden from entering or leaving. Although they received fewer patients every day, it was much harder for them to be discovered than before."

"During the time I was being controlled, the old man used my connections to secretly place a hex on an executive at a major hospital. With that, Henshan Psychiatric Hospital gained a new protective umbrella."

"Later, just as you can see, I lost my usefulness and was imprisoned here by him." After Song Wenxuan finished speaking, he noticed I was deep in thought and assumed I was still suspicious of him.

"That is the truth. Actually, when you first walked in, I didn't trust you either. It wasn't until I saw Xiaofeng that I decided to take a gamble and tell you everything."

Song Wenxuan seemed like he hadn't spoken this much in a long time. His strength was failing, and he looked as though he was on the verge of death.

"I probably don't have much time left, so remember what I tell you next. The old man should have cultivated to the most critical stage of the Sixth Layer of the flying skull sorcery. He can control the minds of five or six people at once, but his own body is very fragile and needs to be nourished by blood."

"Now is your best chance to escape. Don't clash with the patients head-on. Find a window that isn't sealed shut, take Xiaofeng, and hurry!"

I stood where I was without moving. First, I couldn't be sure if Song Wenxuan was lying to me. Second, finding an unsealed window to escape the building was easier said than done.

"What does this old man you're talking about look like? Is he a man of few words with a face like a coffin? Does he look over fifty but still have a tough build?" I played with the Scalpel in my hand, a plan forming in my mind.

"That should be him. You have to stay away from him. If he gets his hands on any of your hair, he can cast a hex on you!"

Song Wenxuan gave a well-meaning warning, but I could only offer a helpless smile. "I was unconscious in a cell for an hour and a half. In that time, he's probably already gotten my hair."

There are some things you simply cannot run from. At a time like this, putting up a desperate fight with my back to the wall might be the only way to carve out a sliver of survival.

"Song Wenxuan, I'll give you a chance to atone to your wife and child. Tell me every weakness that black magician has. Once I kill him, the hex sorcery art will naturally be broken!"

"You can't kill him. You'll understand the true meaning of despair once the hex sorcery art acts up." Song Wenxuan shook his head. "You'll lose all control over your body and do the things you are most unwilling to do."

"All you need to do right now is tell me his weakness. Leave the rest to me!" My eyes shone with determination. I was going to slaughter that devil tonight!

Song Wenxuan stared at me for a long time before finally speaking. "Practicing the flying skull sorcery requires the skull to leave the body and consume essence blood. The essence blood of a fetus is the most suitable. To achieve quick success, the old man frequently soaks his organs in the essence blood of young children."

'Those who practice the evil arts favor the sinister above all else,' I thought to myself. 'The Yin energy is at its heaviest right now, just before dawn. He definitely won't miss this window.'

"His room is on the third floor. Go find a container nourished by essence blood and shatter it. Cut up and smash whatever is inside, and the old man should suffer heavy damage. As for how to truly kill him, I don't know."

Song Wenxuan thought for a moment and added, "You must be careful of the people around you. If they've all been hexed, your greatest danger will likely come from those right beside you."