Chapter 159: The Art of Forbidden Spells

I noticed a strange pattern drawn on the ground, one that had not been there during my last visit. Could this be what Old Man Ma and Third Uncle Guo used against those twin-headed snakes at the very end?

The pattern was drawn in blood. When we left last time, the black dog blood we brought with us had long been exhausted. Where did Old Man Ma and the others get the blood to draw this pattern? Could it be their own blood!

Good lord! For a pattern this large, just how much blood would that require?

Shocked, I looked over at Old Man Ma. He had already walked to the edge of the exit, staring fixedly at the opening. His expression was stern, and he remained utterly silent.

I walked over, feeling a sudden surge of alarm in my heart. Instantly, I understood the reason for Old Man Ma’s silence!

The bottommost part of the exit had been trodden smooth, the result of frequent traffic. Given this, there was only one possibility: all the corpses down below had walked up through this exit on their own!

Those twin-headed snakes had clearly been cleared out. Even if a few had managed to slip through the net, it would be utterly impossible for them to possess every single human corpse and make them walk up from here! It was unthinkable that those corpses could walk on their own without being inhabited by twin-headed snakes!

Only then did I realize why Old Man Ma’s expression had changed so drastically when we were up at the pit. With so many corpses down below, lacking the nourishment of the twin-headed snakes' evil and yin energy, even though the weather wasn't hot right now, after all these days, there should have been at least some odor. Yet, we hadn't sensed any of it while up at the pit.

Even upon walking all the way here, there was still not the slightest stench of decaying corpses. That left only two possibilities: first, even without the nourishment of evil and yin energy, the corpses remained uncorrupted for some reason; second, those corpses had been gone for a long time!

"To think someone is playing tricks right under this old man's nose! Heh!" Old Man Ma said in a cold voice.

"Who could have done this? Could it be Third Uncle Guo?" I asked.

Old Man Ma said coldly, "It's not him. He doesn't have the capability! The only certainty is that whoever took the corpses must know the purpose of this snake pit! For all we know, we might have been under the other party's surveillance all this time!"

Old Man Ma was implying something. He had suspected Tu'e from the very beginning, and that was the exact reason he had intentionally left him behind upstairs.

Yet, Tu'e was unlikely to be involved in this matter. Ever since he injured his leg, we had practically stayed together all the time.

Besides, the last time we came to this snake pit, it wasn't just us and Third Uncle Guo.

I pondered to myself, "Could it be related to Yang Guangyu!"

Old Man Ma's expression shifted slightly, as if my prompt had made him realize this as well.

Yang Guangyu had left very quickly last time, and in a great hurry. At the time, we assumed he hadn't found his mother's corpse and had nothing left to attach sentimental value to, which was why he left early.

But thinking about it now, it was deeply bizarre. They had left in a rush late at night last time. Having just experienced something like the snake pit, they surely weren't fearless enough to walk the night roads for fun!

Since Yang Guangyu was capable of finding someone like Third Uncle Guo, it was entirely possible for him to find others as well.

"No matter what, this old man has been played!" Old Man Ma was boiling with rage.

"What on earth does the person who took the corpses intend to do with them?" Regardless of who did it, with so many corpses, simply finding a place to store them would be a huge hassle.

"Whoever took them naturally has their uses, and none of them will be for any righteous purpose!" Old Man Ma said coldly. "As for that kid Tu'e, you should still keep your distance from him in the future. Whether this matter has anything to do with him or not, that kid carries a very ominous aura and is definitely no ordinary person."

Here came these words again. Taking advantage of the fact that Tu'e was not around and there was no one else present, I asked Old Man Ma, "Master, have you guessed something about Tu'e's background?"

Old Man Ma glanced at me and looked away. "That's all in the past; there's no need for you to know right now. I said before, if it becomes necessary in the future, I will tell you."

He was saying that again! Does that mean Tu'e's background is related to the "past events" he keeps mentioning?

Extremely displeased and right as I was about to say something, Old Man Ma sighed and added, "Though I hope you will never need to know."

Would knowing bring about further disaster? What on earth were these "past events"?

Seeing that Old Man Ma had no intention of explaining further, I said, "Master, I won't press you about things you don't wish to speak of. But things have reached this point, and yet I know nothing at all—it truly makes it hard to be at ease. Can you answer two questions for me? Just two, and they have nothing to do with your 'past events'."

Old Man Ma looked me over and signaled for me to ask.

"First question: What is the forbidden incantation art? Is what Tu'e used the forbidden incantation art?" I asked.

Old Man Ma rolled his eyes at me. "You call that a first question? That's already two questions. Oh well, it's nothing earth-shattering anyway, so I won't quibble with you."

This old man was usually the one who quibbled with me the most.

He expounded leisurely: "This forbidden incantation is divided into forbidden techniques and chants. It is a type of sorcery that uses vital breath to protect a person from harm by blades, poisoned qi, and skin diseases. It is a profound art originating from the Yue people and the Lingnan region. Later on, Taoism borrowed this Yue method of breath-based forbidden incantations, turning it into Taoist breath-prohibition techniques. These breath-prohibitions eventually became essential Taoist methods for curing illnesses and achieving longevity. Of course, the latter was a borrowing, and it ultimately differs from the original forbidden incantation, but it is enough to show how formidable this forbidden incantation art is. Because of Taoism's adoption, this forbidden incantation art cannot be considered completely unfathomable. In the Lingnan region, there are even sects that specialize in studying forbidden incantations. Knowing forbidden incantations is no big deal, but if someone actually masters them, that carries a completely different meaning."

"How is it different?" I asked.

Old Man Ma glanced at me sideways, signaling that this had reached the boundary of what he could answer.

He continued, "That kid Tu'e's skills do somewhat resemble forbidden incantations, yet they are not entirely the same. Although the way he performs them looks quite similar, they are still ordinary witchcraft practices. To someone who doesn't understand, it's very easy to mistake them for the Yue people's forbidden incantation art. Furthermore, one cannot completely rule out the possibility that the kid actually knows forbidden incantations."

If that was the case, Third Uncle Guo had indeed been mistaken; what Tu'e used truly wasn't the forbidden incantation art. Still, this forbidden incantation art sounded like quite a formidable skill.

"Do you understand the forbidden incantation art, Master?" I asked.

Old Man Ma looked at me with disdain. "Is this your second question?"

"No, please don't answer," I quickly said. Even if he didn't answer, I could roughly guess: since the old man responded with a rhetorical question, even if he didn't master the forbidden incantation art, he certainly understood it much better than anyone else, or perhaps shared some kind of connection with it.

I said, "My second question is about that character 'Gen'..."

"Didn't you kid say you wouldn't touch upon past matters!" Before I could even finish my sentence, Old Man Ma rolled his eyes and interrupted me with displeasure.

"Listen to me, Master. I'm not asking you to tell me about it; I'm just asking a single question. Can you just answer with a yes or no?"

Old Man Ma slanted his eyes at me, full of suspicion, clearly thinking I was trying to fish for information from him—and doing so so clumsily that it was a disgrace to him as my master.