Chapter 97: The Cursed Qu Family

  PS: Something unexpected came up today, so there are only two updates! I'm shamelessly asking for a recommendation vote and a three rivers vote!

  The Pan Mountain Avenue makes a big circle, clearly it's just a thousand zhang distance, but it's been pulled to tens of thousands of zhang. According to what the yellow-faced man said, no matter who wants to reach the top of the mountain, they must follow the Pan Mountain Avenue. As for why, the other party doesn't know either, maybe it's a tradition passed down for thousands of years.

  The two of them had incredible leg strength and arrived at the top of the mountain in no more than a stick of incense time.

  As far as the eye can see, the flat mountain top is covered with ancient buildings, and behind the buildings, there is a small green peak, no more than tens of meters high. A beautiful waterfall flows straight down, just falling into the small pond in the center of the building group, splashing countless water flowers.

  "What a wonderful place." Ye Chen secretly admired, having been used to big cities and mountains, now coming to this island like a paradise on earth, made him feel refreshed.

  Along the ancient stone path, Ye Chen followed Huang Lian's husband to the outer house of the central building group.

  "Household master, it's a disciple from the Flowing Cloud Sect outside," the yellow-faced man shouted loudly.

  "Please come in."

  A hoarse voice came out.

  Upon hearing this, Ye Chen stepped into the main hall of the house.

  In the main hall, an old man sat at the top seat, about seventy years old, with skin as yellow as a Han Chinese face, but not malnourished, seemingly born that way. Below him sat a young man in green clothes, who was precisely Qu Yun, the one Ye Xing had arrived just ahead of.

  Qu Yin saw Ye Chen able to come to Pan Shan Island, slightly unexpected.

  Walking into the center of the hall, Ye Chen clasped his fists in respect, "Junior disciple of Liu Yun Sect, Ye Chen, greets Master Qu."

  The old man nodded, "You're here because you received a mission order, aren't you!"

  "Yes."

  "That's good, with two sect disciples, the chances of finding the lost ship are greater."

  "Ye Chen will definitely do his best." As he spoke, Ye Chen's face was filled with doubt, and he carefully sensed the old man's cultivation, only to find that he was merely at the 7th layer of the Qi Refining Realm. He couldn't help but say: "Master Qu, on my way here, I found that all the members of the Qu family are below the Condensing Truth Realm, what's going on?" He didn't believe that a family couldn't produce a single Condensing Truth Realm warrior, and Qu Ming was a good example, who might even enter the Embracing Origin Realm in the future and become a top expert in the sect.

  The old man sighed and said, "You sit down first."

  Ye Chen sat in the chair opposite Qu Ming, wanting to hear what he had to say.

  "My family is not without a True Realm warrior, but it's impossible for a True Realm warrior to exist. Any warrior who reaches the True Realm level, as long as they stay on Panshan Island for three months, will suddenly encounter disaster, or be attacked by a demon beast, or go mad from practicing their skills, or enter an evil state and disappear without a trace. That's why when Qu Mingyi entered the True Realm back then, I made him leave Panshan Island." The old man spoke slowly.

  "Is there such a thing?" Ye Chen sucked in a breath of cold air.

  Qu Ming said faintly: "Indeed, fifteen years ago, my father died suddenly without any warning signs."

  The hall fell silent for a moment.

  Ye Chen said: "Then why don't you leave Pan Shan Island with your whole family? The outside world is vast, and there must be a place for the Qu family to settle down."

  "It all started three thousand years ago, when the ancient water lake was not called ancient water lake, but Qinghu Lake. Our Qu family lived on the shores of Qinghu Lake, and there was no Panshan Island at that time. However, after a member of our clan found an ancient artifact in a cave beneath Qinghu Lake, things changed. A massive earthquake occurred within a thousand miles, changing the terrain and forming a huge depression. Then, torrential rains lasted for three months, almost completely flooding the Qu family and everything around us, leaving us on the brink of life and death. Just as all hope seemed lost, an island descended from the sky, suppressing the cave beneath Qinghu Lake. Our ancestors believed that the gods had shown mercy, giving our clan a way to survive, so we moved en masse to the island. This island is now known as Panshan Island, and the Panshan Road was built later."

  After recalling for a while, the old man continued: "But things are not so simple. After moving to Panshan Island, all the martial artists in the clan who were above the Qi Refining stage died one after another within three months. At that time, the highest cultivation ancestor of my Qu family, who was also the head of the clan, finally said some information before he died."

  "What was said?" Ye Chen found himself deeply attracted.

  "The old man used all his strength and said word by word: 'Devil, curse, just these four words.'"

  Devil, damn it!

  Ye Chen suddenly felt a chill run down his spine, his hair standing on end. These four words seemed to have an enormous magical power, and even saying them out loud was enough to shock people's hearts.

  Qu Ming's face didn't look good either, every time he heard these four words, he would feel a kind of fear, deeply branded in his blood, unable to be driven away, unable to be forgotten.

  The old man let out a bitter laugh and said, "Isn't it terrifying?"

  Ye Chen did not force it, nodded and said yes.

  "When I first heard these four words, I was more terrified than you, and I couldn't sleep for a whole month. I always felt like there were dark shadows around me, as if ghosts were howling. But later on, I became numb to it, because unless we reach the state of Cong Zhēn, us Qu family members are just like normal people, and we won't die without reason."

  Upon hearing this, Ye Chen looked at the old man again, who still hadn't explained his previous doubts.

  The old man continued, "We had thought of relocating the whole family, but it was impossible. Before our ancestors' clan leader died, he told everyone to leave Pan Shan Island and not stay here. Others listened and divided into three batches, preparing to leave one by one. But what's despairing is that only one person from the first batch survived, while others encountered disasters just like those who died on Pan Shan Island, even more miserable and terrifying. The sole survivor was driven mad and returned to Pan Shan Island, where he died within three years."

  Can't leave Pan Shan Island? But what about Qu Ming, no, the first batch of people who moved out only had one survivor, although he died later, but that was a spiritual collapse, and it should have nothing to do with the curse. In other words, among the people living on Pan Shan Island, only one person can safely leave without being threatened by the curse. It can be barely explained as "the great way is fifty, the heavenly evolution is forty-nine, and human escape is one". The heavens will always leave a thread of life, and will not push people to the end of the road, let alone a tribe of hundreds and thousands of people. In an instant, countless thoughts flashed through Ye Chen's mind.

  "Years went by again, and some young people in the clan didn't believe it was evil, preparing to move once more. However, there were only a few dozen of them this time, with no exceptions - anyone who left Panshan Island five hundred miles away would have only one survivor, while everyone else would die tragically. No one could explain why." The old man's voice carried a hint of fatigue.

  The whole story of Ye Chen's understanding was almost complete, but he really couldn't think that such a terrifying thing would happen in this beautiful and peaceful place. A water cave at the bottom of the lake, an island falling from the sky, a cursed tribe... The whole thing was too scary and beyond explanation. Maybe when he reached a certain level, he might be able to solve the mystery. For now, he didn't dare to make any rash moves, fearing that he would be infected with the curse of Pan Shan Island. At that time, it would really be a case of "calling out to heaven but getting no response, calling out to earth but getting no resonance". He would never be able to leave Pan Shan Island unless he killed Qu Mei, but since they were not from the same tribe, killing each other wouldn't necessarily guarantee his own survival. It was very likely that he would die here in three months.